Hippo,
This is not a PHI problem, but rather an industry wide problem. Good folks are making decidedly bad decisions and unfortunately very few live to tell about it. Every pilot flying EMS has gone IIMC probably or encountered weather or climatic conditions they did not count on. Flight delays can catch you out and allow for weather to become a problem.
The NTSB recommended all sorts of equipment improvements that cost a lot of money. They are simple to acquire and install but expensive and add weight and cost.
The cheap part of the solution but the hardest one is to find a way to ensure good people make good decisions regarding flying or not. The flight not taken guarnatees there will be no accident. The trick is to take the right flights and not the ones that set you up for that accident.
If this was the first weather related accident in a while or an isolated indicident then this would not be such an issue. Unfortunately the EMS industry as a whole is doing a terrible job of assessing weather correctly and refusing to fly in hazardous weather.
I would suggest operators would be well put to conduct third party evaluation of their programs and seek to find methods that will provide the flexibility needed to operate but do so in a manner that effectively prevents bad judgement calls that are causing these accidents.
If a visit was conducted at any EMS base....where the pilots were immune from retribution....almost everyone would tell of feeling pressure to fly despite Management stating otherwise. In most cases, this perceived pressure is self inflicted but that does not free Management from responsibility in my book. The operator has a responsiblity to promote measures that combat that perception.
We are killing people with an amazing regularity due to these kinds of accidents and there is lots of arm waving and yelling but no one is doing anything aggressive to change the environment we are working in.
Maybe they need to create a "Dispatch Office" much like the Part 121 operators do for overseeing flights. They all have computers....centralize the dispatch room to confirm weather decisions being made by pilots. Hire an experienced pilot, retired pilot and give them a remit to accept or decline takeoff decisions after the pilot and crew have reached a decision. That would be one last check on the guys before they go out the door.