• Association of Air Medical Services (AAMS)


• Association of Critical Care Transport (ACCT)


• Air Medical Operators Association (AMOA)


• Commission on Accreditation of Medical Transport Services (CAMTS)


• Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)


• Helicopter Association International (HAI)


• National EMS Pilots Association (NEMSPA)


• National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB)


With that list in view, I have to con-


fess that the title of this article is pre- sumptuous. As a member of NEMSPA and an air medical transport safety pro- fessional, I am not qualified to represent all of the perspectives pertinent to the task of


MAY 2012


broken in the air medical transport industry. But neither is anyone else (even though some may feel that they are). What I am suggesting here is an overview of the process to follow in order to successfully create and imple- ment effective and holistic solutions to deficiencies within this industry. You will notice that there is no rep-


resentation for federal or state legislators on the preceding list. The intent of the Working Group should be to focus on improvements and interventions that can be implemented without a need for amending existing laws, or for drafting new ones. If that goal should prove to be naïve, then the group can draft recom- mendations to be presented to the appropriate government entities.


THE PROCESS The first step in a campaign to fine-


fixing everything that may be


tune the national air medical transport industry is for each organization that


20


will participate in the Working Group to designate one or two representatives who are willing to commit to participa- tion in the project. The next step will be to draft a


broad, very high-level statement of the intent and the goals of the project. As the effort progresses, the group will more carefully determine what the final spe- cific objectives need to be. Those objec- tives should fall onto the table naturally as the result of detailed discussions of what the problems and challenges are within the industry. After reading the preceding para-


graph, some readers from the organiza- tions listed above may be thinking that they have already done this within their own group. They probably have, and in some cases there may also have been some cross-talk between organizations. But,


they have most likely


only


addressed the repairs to a tusk or a trunk; other parts of the elephant are still ailing.


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