air ambulance

The cost to transport a loved one continues to rise with the increasing costs to provide transportation services. As of January 30th 2009, a typical air ambulance flight from California to North Carolina now costs around $ 35,000 for the medical jet and medical crew including ground ambulance charges in each city compared to long distance ground costs around $12,000. Transporting a patient by ground is one third the cost of transporting a person by air. 

Why the big difference? Here are a few reasons. Jet fuel prices have not fallen nearly as much as gasoline prices. During these challenging economic times fewer people can afford an air ambulance flight thus the overhead costs rise to offset the fewer flight hours. Insurance costs have risen significantly along with the frequency of  helicopter accidents. Salaries for critical care flight nurses are among the highest for all nursing positions. Flight training and recurrent training costs for pilots continue to rise.  With fewer air ambulance companies operating there is less competition than even 2 years ago.

Therefore, only the most critical patients who may require invasive medical care and the shortest time in transfer are going by air ambulance, as they should.  However when time in transit is not a critical factor more and more people are choosing to go by medical ground transportation. Since insurance rarely covers the cost of medical transportation, assuming you did not buy a travel insurance policy before your accident, you too may decide to stay the ground.

A word about Medicare reimbursement for medical transportation

In most cases Medicare will not reimburse for non-emergency transportation. They will only pay for a medically necessary transport to the closest medical facility,  usually in an emergent situation. The need for a stretcher does not constitute a medical necessity. It is fraudulent for an ambulance service to file for Medicare in a non-emergency setting and claim that they performed a procedure on a patient that they did not do.

If you seek reimbusement, be sure to file a request before the transport and be prepared to defend your request proving the air or ground transport is medically necessary with letters from the transferring and receiving physician

On the surface, air ambulance companies may appear to be the same and, as a result, you may be inclined to make your medical flight selection based primarily on availability and/or cost. For those of us in the medical field, especially those with experience in the air ambulance business, it is readily apparent that not all air ambulance companies are comparable. So without experience, how can you recognize these differences?

Consider your own experiences with medical professionals and it’s likely that you’ll recall some of them whom you preferred over others. Why? Were they more compassionate? Did they take a special interest in you? Maybe they were a little more adept at inserting those needles or they simply took a moment to fluff your pillow. Isn’t it interesting that most of us evaluate our level of medical care on the personal attention – the “bedside manner” – we experience?

Although the medical care and personal safety of patients is very serious, all air ambulance flight team members – from flight nurses to flight surgeons – should be trained to recognize and respond to the most intimate of human emotions. Compassion. Kindness. Respect.

The Air Ambulance company should be fully licensed, insured, and nationally accredited. They should also boast a highly-trained medical crew and a safety- and service-oriented flight crew. They should have the most advanced Medical Flight equipment and medical tools available to ensure the effective medical care.

When considering these options, we invite you to look at Air Ambulance by Air MD. Our company has a history of caring and performing above expectations.