http://www.airmethods.com/airmethods/services/service-models#.V_VPi-grLIU
I probably read this info before but had no idea what they were
talking about. Now that I have worked on the USA Medevac Map for a few
months, I am able to understand most of the info.
Air Methods uses 3 service options - they are -
Hospital based option - hospital provides medical staff and
dispatchers - Air Methods supplies the rest
Community Based option - Air Methods provides everything
Alternate Delivery option - hospital provides medical staff - Air
Methods supplies the rest
==========================
Bottom line - a medevac service is comprised of several components -
the helicopter - the pilots - the FAA Part 135 certificate holder -
the dispatchers and dispatch system - the aircraft mechanics - the
hangar - the launch pad - the trainers - the billers - the marketers -
the FAA flack catchers - etc - and all of these components can be
provided by different entities
Air Evac Lifeteam supplies everything AFAIK
PHI and Air Methods use various schemes
Not sure what MedTrans does
Metro Aviation supplies helos and mechanics for about 30 medevac
services - but I dont think that they supply any med crews nor any
dispatchers - not sure if they supply pilots - I think they do since
their HQ has flight simulation machines IIRC
================================
To tie this all together - I think the biggest players are - from the
comm center point of view
Air Methods - 1 dispatch center in Omaha NE for 303 bases with 432
aircraft (I guess they dont dispatch all of those aircraft - and some
of those aircraft might be fixed wing)
Air Evac LifeTeam - 1 dispatch center at O"Fallon MO - for 138 helos -
(dispatch center previously was at White Plains MO)
PHI - main dispatch center at Phoenix AZ - smaller dispatch centers at
Indianapolis IN + Lexington KY + Falls Church VA - 65 bases in total
(nearly 99% rotorwing (RW) bases)
MedTrans - dispatch center in Lewisville TX for approx 60 bases - all RW I think
Life Flight of Oregon - maybe merging 2 dispatch centers into 1 -
approx 30 helo bases
========================
Fixed wing is an entirely separate deal - but they seem to be smaller
companys with a max of 10 planes each. I assume they all operate their
own "dispatch centers". (which might be just an answering service in
some cases)
=========================
You can replace the word "medevac" in this post with "FD" or "PD" -
and that might give you a hint about the future of public safety
operations here in the USA - ie - nationwide dispatching is an
interesting concept in the public safety field - (just got a big hit
of deja vu - how many times have I posted this idea in the past?)