September 4, 2010 - The Association of Air Medical Services (AAMS), the industry trade organization for air-medical and critical-care ground transport, applauds the Government Accountability Office (GAO) for releasing its report that attempts to assess the impact of changes in the air-medical industry on patient services provided. 

AAMS provided factual input to the GAO for its report, including data generated from a series of critical-care-transport studies funded by its charitable foundation, MedEvac Foundation International, and from findings generated by the Atlas & Database of Air Medical Service (ADAMS), a joint venture between AAMS and the Center for Transportation Injury Research (CenTIR) in Buffalo, N.Y.

Finally, as pointed out by the GAO, AAMS and the air medical community recognize there have been questions raised about marketing, outreach and education efforts of air medical services in the field. So, to help establish standards in this area, AAMS has established a task force that is developing a set of guidelines for ethical business marketing practices.

?Typically, air ambulance transport is used only for the most serious, time-sensitive cases ? including trauma, traumatic brain injury, stroke, cardiac, burns and spinal-cord injuries, as well as high-risk obstetrical, neonatal/pediatric and transplant patients,? said Dr. Hankins. ?And to that end, we commend the GAO for helping us fulfill our objective ? which is to make medevac transport as safe and efficient as possible, without eroding service to the patients who depend on it as an emergency care safety net, particularly in rural and other underserved areas.?