Kinkade would like to remind the American public of the following facts related to air-medical services:

• Medevac helicopters provide both a higher level of medical care (than is typically found on a ground ambulance), as well as a speedier response. The crews on medical helicopters are highly sophisticated, with physician-level capabilities. A typical crew consists of a specially-trained critical care nurse and a paramedic but can also include other specialists (such as a neonatologist or respiratory therapist) as necessitated, depending on the patient’s condition.

• Almost exclusively, these crews handle the most critically ill and injured patients, thus giving them more experience in dealing with severe cases than typical ground EMS responders.

• Medevac crews – coupled with the advanced drugs, blood and blood products, as well as the sophisticated patient monitoring tools and equipment they have on board – typically bring a higher level of medical intervention than is sometimes available in the area, which may only be served by primary-care facilities. This is especially true in outlying areas, where air-medical services have formed a “rural healthcare safety net” for underserved communities or cities experiencing budget cuts.

• Medevac helicopter crews do not “self-dispatch”; the request for an air medical transport is generally made by a physician, nurse, law-enforcement officer, fire-service crew member, ground ambulance paramedic or other certified emergency medical personnel as dictated by local, regional or state protocols.

• Increased medevac helicopter usage is partially the result of aging “baby boomers,” whose related health care problems – most notably stroke and heart attack – are placing a greater demand on the overall healthcare system as well as creating a need for highly time-dependent emergency-medical response.

• Greater reliance on medevac helicopters is particularly prevalent in rural and sunbelt retirement areas and in places that have experienced emergency department closures or cutbacks in local, community-based ambulance services.

• Changes in the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Medicare payment structure have resulted in a lack of rural trauma and tertiary care centers. In addition, shortages of specialist physicians have frequently necessitated distant transport. These factors, combined with the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA) mandate that requires physicians to stabilize patients to the maximum of their ability, and to assure continuation of a high level of care if transport to a tertiary-care facility is required, factor significantly in inter-facility transport decisions.