Leader in Clinical Innovation

Air Methods prides itself upon exceeding many of the established benchmarks in the air medical industry.

GAMUT Benchmarking

The Ground Air Medical Quality Transport (GAMUT) Improvement Collaborative is a database for transport teams to track, report, and analyze their performance on transport-specific quality metrics by comparing it to other programs. According to the GAMUT benchmark, Air Methods’ clinicians outperform the industry in six key metrics, including first-attempt tracheal tube placement success.

*Data from 2021

The Leader in airway management

Placing a tracheal tube is the most complex procedure performed in air medical practice. After identifying the factors that contributed to unsuccessful intubation, we created the HEAVEN criteria in 2015. A lifesaving trauma care prediction tool, HEAVEN is now established as the gold standard process for airway management.

As the leader in advanced airway management, our first-attempt tracheal tube placement rate consistently exceeds 94.5%– nearly 20% above the average pre-hospital rates. Our overall success rate is 98%.

Air Methods contributions are numerous to industry best practices of airway management, including:

  • 5 publications
  • 8 articles
  • 4 industry textbooks

Commission on Accreditation of Medical Transport Systems (CAMTS)

We are involved in a voluntary audit every three years to establish that we meet and exceed industry-wide standards. These standards address not only the quality of patient care, education of medical personnel, and medical equipment, but also operational and safety concerns. Achieving CAMTS accreditation is a mark of excellence for a critical care transport program. The Air Methods’ goal is for all CBS programs to earn CAMTS after one year of service.

Blood in Flight

Air Methods continues to make a financial commitment to providing the best prehospital air medical care possible. We have established partnerships with 11 strategic blood centers across the country including American Red Cross to make this possible. We have uniquely worked through the logistics of moving near expiration packed red blood cells back to high-use centers to prevent waste of this valuable product.

Over 150 aircraft are carrying blood in flight.

Risk Management

Air Methods mitigates clinical risk through a variety of monitoring and reporting tools.

Protean

  • Post-flight debriefing
  • 100% quality assurance review of transports

Physician Involvement

  • 70 active physician medical directors for 156 Community Based Service bases
  • Ensures our clinical team receives active guidance
  • Actively involved through the chart review process, case review sessions, and clinical risk mitigation activities
  • National patient care guidelines and systematic review of best practices

Patient Safety Action Program (PSAP)

  • Encourages reporting of all issues
  • Events are collected and analyzed for risk mitigation
  • Identify positive and negative events
  • Monitor equipment performance
  • Collect and trend data
  • Yields over 500 case reviews annually