News on the Fly - Nov. 22, 2011

Mancuso writes, "I write to you today with many mixed emotions as I finish up my last day as your Executive Director and CEO of AAMS & the MedEvac Foundation International. I hope you will excuse the worn-out pun when I say the last 15 years feels like they have flown by. How could they feel otherwise, with so much that has gone on?"

AAMS meets with EMS Stakeholders
AAMS
Recently, AAMS was an invited participant in a EMS stakeholders meeting sponsored by the Emergency Care Coordination Center (ECCC), housed within the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response at the Department of Health and Human Services. This day-long meeting brought together representatives from the full spectrum of the EMS system to provide input as to how the federal government could be a better partner with the EMS community and how we all could move closer to reaching an ideal EMS system. The ECCC will be preparing a proceedings document for public release. AAMS appreciates the opportunity to participate in this collaborative industry effort and looks forward to more opportunities to work with the ECCC in the future.More

Recent law includes provisions creating tax credits for businesses that hire unemployed veterans
AAMS
Recently, President Obama signed into law, legislation that included provisions creating new tax credits for businesses who hire unemployed veterans. The measure will provide businesses with a "Returning Heroes" tax credit for calendar years 2012 and 2013. Business would earn a $2,400 credit for hiring an unemployed veteran who has been unemployed for at least a month. That credit doubles to $4,800 for hiring a veteran who has been unemployed for six months or longer. In addition, the bill also includes a two-year extension of the "Wounded Warriors" tax credit. This program gives companies that hire veterans with service-related disabilities a $4,800 credit. If the veteran has been unemployed for six months or more, the tax credit increases to $9,600.More

AAMS Statement regarding H.R. 1117
AAMS
At its meeting at the Air Medical Transport Conference (AMTC), the AAMS Board of Directors approved the following statement regarding H.R. 1117, the Air Ambulance Patient Safety, Protection, and Coordination Act:

"The AAMS Board of Directors supports efforts to clarify state and federal regulatory authority over air medical transport. For this reason, AAMS has spearheaded the Model State Guidelines project, and continues to pursue this endeavor in the interest of clarification. The stated intent and a significant portion of HR 1117 is directed at the same goal of clarifying state versus federal oversight. However, HR 1117 also seeks to change the application of the Airline Deregulation Act to air medical transport. The AAMS Board is not in a position to support such a change, without further deliberate consideration of the impact on access to and the provision of safe, high-quality air medical services. The AAMS Board requests the opportunity to continue working with the authors and supporters of HR 1117 to find broadly acceptable non-legislative appropriate and effective solutions to the issues it seeks to address and then if still necessary, specific and limited legislation necessary to meet these goals."

The AAMS Government Relations Committee is now examining S. 1407, the Air Ambulance Medicare Accreditation and Accountability Act. A special task force has been formed to work in an expedited manner to examine the legislation. Any recommendations by the task force will be reviewed by the full Government Relations Committee before a briefing document is provided to the AAMS Board of Directors.

NTSB to host 2-day Public Aircraft Oversight Safety Forum
AAMS
On Nov. 30 and Dec. 1, the National Transportation Safety Board will host a two-day Public Aircraft Oversight Safety Forum. The goals of the forum are to raise awareness of the importance of effective oversight in ensuring the safety of public aircraft operations, identify where responsibility lies for oversight of public aircraft operations, and facilitate the sharing of best practices and lessons learned across a number of parties involved in the oversight of public aircraft operations. The forum is open to the public and will be webcast at www.ntsb.gov. More

Study finds fatigue linked to safety problems among EMS workers
Medical News Today
Fatigue and poor sleep quality, which affect many emergency medical services workers, are linked to higher reported rates of injuries, medical errors and safety-compromising behaviors, according to a study by University of Pittsburgh researchers that is now available online in Prehospital Emergency Care and appearing in the January-March 2012 print edition.More

Air ambulance industry adjusts to economic demands
Denver Business Journal (subscriber only)
The economic conditions and consolidating hospital ownership that have brought changes to the health care industry also are affecting the air ambulance industry that took flight in Denver nearly 40 years ago.More

Deep-chilling trauma patients may save them
Detroit Free Press
Suspended animation may not be just for sci-fi movies anymore: Trauma surgeons soon will try plunging some critically injured people into a deep chill - cooling their body temperatures as low as 50 degrees - in hopes of saving their lives.More

UK trials for new blood transfusion protocols
BBC News
VideoBrief

Clinical trials are under way in the U.K. of new blood transfusion procedures for patients with traumatic injuries. A study involving 22 centers in England and Wales is assessing how changing the mix of blood components given can affect outcomes. The new trials aim to determine what is the optimal mix of red blood cells and plasma given to trauma patients.More

Mechanical CPR helps save cardiac patient
JEMS
Whatcom County, Wash., Medic One EMTs respond to a 9-1-1 call from a local motel at 2:43 a.m. and find a 63-year-old woman in distress, short of breath and suffering from chest pain and dizziness. While the EMS providers record vital signs and start supplying oxygen, the patient slumps over in bed. She begins to seize and lapse into cardiac arrest just as the paramedic team arrives.More

FAA: 2011 sets record for laser strikes
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
There have been more than 3,000 reported instances of lasers being pointed into aircraft so far this year - eclipsing the previous one-year high reported in 2010, according to federal aviation officials. "We don't want anybody laboring under the assumption that these are toys," said Randy Babbitt, administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration. "They're not. They have the potential for doing a lot of damage."More

EMS lessons from the Conrad Murray trial
EMS1
The paramedics who worked the Michael Jackson call may have done nothing wrong, but they had to endure grilling by attorneys who challenged their skills and questioned their decisions.More

Aerosimulators delivers simulator to Air Methods
Helicopter Association International
AeroSimulators USA, Inc. has announced the delivery of an EC135 helicopter flight simulator to Air Methods Corporation, the U.S.'s largest provider of air medical emergency transport services. This device complements two AeroSimulators AS350 B2 simulators delivered to Air Methods earlier in the year.More

Medical experts endorse use of air ambulance in Nigeria
The Sun News On-line
Following a series of bombings around Nigeria in the last year, different health experts and practitioners alike have been laying more emphasis on the need for us as a nation to engage the use of pre-hospital services in the form of air ambulances. This is why the National Association of Resident Doctors centered their annual scientific conference on this subject matter.More