The decision to add a second hospital-based EMS helicopter

Area of Science:

• Emergency Medicine
• Aerospace Medicine
• Healthcare Operations

Background:

• Hospital-based emergency medical services (EMS) helicopter operations are crucial for critical care transport.
• Evaluating the performance and capacity of EMS helicopter services is essential for optimal resource allocation.
• Industry consensus suggests a single helicopter can manage 70-90 flights per month.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze seven years of performance data for a hospital-based EMS helicopter service.
• To determine the need for a second aircraft based on service demand and operational capacity.
• To develop a model for EMS helicopter operators to guide decisions on acquiring additional aircraft.

Main Methods:

• Conducted a seven-year performance analysis of a hospital-based EMS helicopter.
• Surveyed seven hospitals operating multiple helicopters to establish flight capacity benchmarks.
• Analyzed trends in service requests versus completed missions, including reasons for denial.

Main Results:

• Service requests increased by 148% over seven years, while completed missions rose by 92%.
• Completed missions reached 78 per month, nearing the identified threshold of 75 for potential need of a second aircraft.
• A significant number of missions were missed due to maintenance and overlapping requests, which a second aircraft could address.

Conclusions:

• The data suggests a need for a second EMS helicopter when completed flights approach 75 per month.
• Factors like increasing requests and missed missions due to operational constraints support the need for expansion.
• Affordability and continued growth in critical care referrals are vital for the sustainability of a two-helicopter service.