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Catalina Island Health outlines water-ambulance trial and scaled hospital plans amid funding challenges
Summary
Catalina Island Health told the council a private ambulance company will trial a water ambulance for critical-care transport, and hospital planners have scaled capital plans after reimbursement changes — the projected hospital size and cost have dropped, prompting site and design revisions.
Tim Kilpinski, representing Catalina Island Health, briefed the council on two operational developments: the potential for a water ambulance service and changes to the planned hospital capital project.
Kilpinski said Symbiosis, an ambulance services company that operates in five Southern California counties, has offered a water-ambulance capability and the island will conduct a non-emergent trial to practice patient loading and off-loading between vessel and mainland ambulance. "They offered to do a water ambulance for Catalina," Kilpinski said. The arrangement would be strictly an emergency transport service; Symbiosis will bill insurers directly and the hospital is not financially involved in the trial.
On the hospital project, Kilpinski summarized funding measures and constraints. He said Measure C (a city sales-tax allocation) produces about $750,000 annually and Measure H (a passenger tax) generates roughly $2,250,000 a year for the capital project, while a county property-tax measure (Measure B) funds EMS at approximately $420,000,000 annually. Kilpinski said earlier assumptions about cost-based reimbursement changed during planning: the project’s feasible size dropped from pro formas that supported $160–224 million down into an approximately $100–$110 million range; the team has reduced scope and is evaluating alternate sites and designs.
"Every 1% drop in our payer mix from cost based reimbursement to some other payer... lowers our... the size of our capital project by $3,500,000," Kilpinski said, describing sensitivity of project affordability to reimbursement rates. Council members asked about mitigation costs for potential sites; Kilpinski said geotechnical investigations and borings are being planned.
