New Air EMS Company

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Star Air Life

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Good Afternoon All,

I am interested in hearing ideas, experiences or anything you would like to share with me.

I am interested in starting my own Air Emergency Medical Company. I live in a rural area where we do not have our own helicopter and it is greatly needed.

We are doing approximately 47 flights per month with another city nearby having to come provide their services.

My Question to All, where can I start, what licenses do I need to operate, what beneficial information can you share with me so that I can develop this company.

Thanks to all of you in advance.

Anthony.
 
When you say start your own air medical service... I'm taking you mean your the one fronting the money or going after investors to get your venture off the ground?

I'm no expert in this area but to lease space at an airport, buy or lease helicopters, frequent maintenance of the helicopters, the medical staffing, office staff, flight mechanics, etc... is going to be in the millions of dollars range.

Have you considered contacting nearby air services to see if they would be able to re-locate a helicopter and crew closer to your area? This may be more feasible. Are the number of flights you anticipate performing high enough to cover all the operating expenses?

If your really serious about starting a company of this nature you may want to hire a consultant who has experience in setting up these type of operations first hand. They will be able to provide you with all the info you need.
 
First and foremost, how many of the 47 flights are truly medically justfied. If you went back and did chart review, I bet you would find a sizable portion (perhaps even most of them) could have been handled by a competent ground crew. You'll probably find a few of them that didn't even meet flight criteria. Lobbying to upgrade the ground service capabilities is significantly cheaper and better serves the community in the long run.

Secondly, none of this is inexpensive. The cheapest, crapiest airframe even remotely usable in EMS (Bell 206L) is 1mil+ US dollars in medical trim, and it's ability to do the job is often called into question.

Finally your starting this up in a market that is oversaturated with HEMS as it is. What, other than saving a couple of minutes that probably weren't clinically significant anyway, could your service offer that the other one doesn't?

I hate to put a damper on your dream, but I'm sick of seeing flight crews turn into yard darts for no reason. Either it should be done right with capable airframes, up to date flight systems, well trained crews, NVGs ect (none of which is cheap) or not done at all.
 
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usalsfyre said:
First and foremost, how many of the 47 flights are truly medically justfied. If you went back and did chart review, I bet you would find a sizable portion (perhaps even most of them) could have been handled by a competent ground crew. You'll probably find a few of them that didn't even meet flight criteria. Lobbying to upgrade the ground service capabilities is significantly cheaper and better serves the community in the long run.

Secondly, none of this is inexpensive. The cheapest, crapiest airframe even remotely usable in EMS (Bell 206L) is 1mil+ US dollars in medical trim, and it's ability to do the job is often called into question.

Finally your starting this up in a market that is oversaturated with HEMS as it is. What, other than saving a couple of minutes that probably weren't clinically significant anyway, could your service offer that the other one doesn't?

I hate to put a damper on your dream, but I'm sick of seeing flight crews turn into yard darts for no reason. Either it should be done right with capable airframes, up to date flight systems, well trained crews, NVGs ect (none of which is cheap) or not done at all.
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We are certainly in agreement, but I often wonder... If people stopped applying for jobs at unsafe companies, maybe there would be less Airmed companies?

The people who are climbing aboard the helicopters to "chase the dream" have to bear some responsibility.
 
As ground ems owner, i can tell you that you have no clue what you're doing. The initial cost to open ems ambulance is really high, between obtaining hanger, employees, city permits, county permits, faa license etc it will cost millions to even get green light. You still need to find patients, bill for them etc. Unless you're very wealthy individual or know some who are, do not bother even trying to open one.
 
Thank you for response

@usalsfyre- All 47 flight per month are truly justified I have study and asked for past 3 years of flight records and this is the average number of flights done, all with medical justification flight criteria status. I live in a rural area and we do not have a trauma center or equipt to handle these type of situations.

Ground Service is a great option, only thing that I am concerned about is that the distance to the closest big city that provides the services we dont is approximately 120 nautical miles. Ground Service is not an option when patient is in critical care, which again goes back to those 47 flights on average.

I have been talking to small business here locally and other local banks and investors and we seem to be getting green light for this. We are looking into a Eurocopter 135 p2+ with a price tag around 4.7 million EMS ready and Vip Configuration. This rotocraft will allow us to transport two patients two nurses and a pilot and get there very very fast. Take into consideration that it has the capability to be transformed into VIP configuration for, for hire luxury for Doctors or Executive transport

We have qualified medical staff on call to provide the services that we need while both on board and on ground. The Helicopter will be brand new and will have the latest flight systems including Night Vision capability and we have two pilots qualified myself included to handle the operation for flights.


@18G I personally will be one of the major investors in this company but will have an option and need others to join in. I have been speaking to small business and local investors that are excited of the idea.

Contacting and Leasing nearby services is what is being done at the moment, problem with that is that the are not nearby they are 120nm away.

Our local hospital has agreed to provide me a LOI- Letter of Intent that gives me first option to provide Air Emergency Services.

We have done a study and it requires 10 flights per month for our expenses to break even.

I want to thank you both for your comments, its time for myself to study the situation futher and I will take your comments and suggestion into consideration.

thanks,

Anthony
 
Starlife being that you do have the resources and other stuff lined up i suggest you first contact your state ems and find out their requirement. Next contact city/county and also faa. You need to find out what it takes to get permission from FAA. Also download medi-care application and see what requirement they have. Understand that it takes about 2 month to get your provider # and you need to have the heli before you can apply etc. Good Luck!
 
looker said:
As ground ems owner, i can tell you that you have no clue what you're doing. The initial cost to open ems ambulance is really high, between obtaining hanger, employees, city permits, county permits, faa license etc it will cost millions to even get green light. You still need to find patients, bill for them etc. Unless you're very wealthy individual or know some who are, do not bother even trying to open one.
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I want to thank you for your response,

I well aware of the initial cost to open ems ambulance along with emplyees, pilots, hangers, city permits, county permits, faa license etc.

price will be as follows

europter 135 p2+ -4.7 million both VIP and EMS ready

Two Pilots with required FAA qualifications (myself included)- 160k/yr

Two RNs- 60K/yr

Hanger fees 1000/yr

TDSHS Provider inital Cost 500 and 180 per each helicopter

Insurance....

Patients are around 47 flights per month so we need this service locally.

etc etc.........

I am well aware of what im getting into and have been in the medical field for 20+ years.

Im just looking for comments and tips you guys might have first hand for me.

Thanks for your response!

Anthony
 
Keep in mind what you bill and what you will actually get paid are far different amounts. This could really change the number of flights required to make payroll, helicopter payments, insurance, etc.
 
If I am reading that budget right, it makes it seems like you are paying the 2 RN's $30,000/yr each for $60,000 total or is it $60,000 each?
 
Star Air Life said:
I apologize that will be total of 120k/yr two RNs
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They can only be on standby so many hours per day so you will need more than 2 to staff the service. So salary will be much higher.
 
I'd say 6 RNs is a more realistic number... And probably 1 more pilot
 
medic417 said:
Keep in mind what you bill and what you will actually get paid are far different amounts. This could really change the number of flights required to make payroll, helicopter payments, insurance, etc.
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The average pay per flight is at around 7k. To break even with all operating cost we need a total number of average 24 flights.
 
medic417 said:
They can only be on standby so many hours per day so you will need more than 2 to staff the service. So salary will be much higher.
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They are currently hired by our local hospital and I have made an agreement with the Hospital Director and our Medical Director to have access to RNs EMTs as needed. The two in our budget ARE on standby. This is included in the letter of intent I received.
 
Star Air Life said:
They are currently hired by our local hospital and I have made an agreement with the Hospital Director and our Medical Director to have access to RNs EMTs as needed. The two in our budget ARE on standby. This is included in the letter of intent I received.
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But that may not meet the state or federal requirements.
 
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