ArticleAnnals of emergency medicine2013
Cost-effectiveness of helicopter versus ground emergency medical services for trauma scene transport in the United States.
Article in Annals of emergency medicine, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. It is linked to trial NCT03940443 (Differences in Mortality and Morbidity in Patients Suffering a Time-critical Condition Between Ground Emergency Medical Services and Helicopter Emergency Medical Services - a Descriptive and Comparative Study), which is not on this map. Cited by 50 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Differences in Mortality and Morbidity in Patients Suffering a Time-critical Condition Between Ground Emergency Medical Services and Helicopter Emergency Medical Services - a Descriptive and Comparative Study
Who cites it
50 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 158 citations in OpenAlex.
- Survival and cost-effectiveness of helicopter versus ground emergency medical services: a systematic review and meta-analysis with meta-regression and trial sequential analysis.Scandinavian journal of trauma, resuscitation and emergency medicine · 2025Pooled it
- Impact of Trauma System Structure on Injury Outcomes: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.World journal of surgery · 2018Pooled it
- Interhospital transfer dynamics in foreign body aspiration: Age-stratified nationwide retrospective cohort study.Turk gogus kalp damar cerrahisi dergisi · 2026Article
- Assessment of clinical and logistical contribution in a Norwegian helicopter emergency medical service using integrated data: a retrospective observational study.Scandinavian journal of trauma, resuscitation and emergency medicine · 2026Observational
- Establishing a Consensus-Based Definition of Air Medical Transport Need for Rural Patients After Injury: Results from a Delphi Survey.Prehospital emergency care · 2026Article
- Regional retrospective observational analysis of the impact of enhanced care teams on trauma morbidity and mortality outcomes.Scandinavian journal of trauma, resuscitation and emergency medicine · 2025Observational
- Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Use of Helicopter Transport After Severe Trauma in the US.JAMA surgery · 2025Article
- Mortality rates in physician staffed ground vs. air ambulance for severe trauma patients: retrospective analysis of the Japanese nationwide trauma registry.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Centralization and transport of critically ill pediatric patients.Frontiers in pediatrics · 2025Review
- Economic impact of patients with medical evacuation in remote islands: a case study in Matsu Islands.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- A scenario based approach to optimizing cost-effectiveness of physician-staffed Helicopter Emergency Medical Services compared to ground-based Emergency Medical Services in Finland.Scandinavian journal of trauma, resuscitation and emergency medicine · 2024Article
- Prehospital time and mortality in pediatric trauma.Pediatric surgery international · 2024Article
- Comparison of helicopter and ground transportation in pediatric trauma patients.Pediatric research · 2024Article
- Trauma centers: an underfunded but essential asset to the community.Trauma surgery & acute care open · 2024Article
- A 12-month retrospective descriptive analysis of a single helicopter emergency medical service operator in four South African provinces.African journal of emergency medicine : Revue africaine de la medecine d'urgence · 2023Article
- Article
- A descriptive study of trauma patients transported by helicopter emergency medical services to a level one trauma centre.African journal of emergency medicine : Revue africaine de la medecine d'urgence · 2022Article
- Use of Helicopter Medical Transportation to the Neuroscience Intensive Care Unit.Neurocritical care · 2022Article
- An economic evaluation of triage tools for patients with suspected severe injuries in England.BMC emergency medicine · 2022Article
- Challenges of prehospital aerial operations in response to earthquake hazards: A qualitative study.Journal of education and health promotion · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
- Commented on by
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
7 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
STUDY
objectiveWe determine the minimum mortality reduction that helicopter emergency medical services (EMS) should provide relative to ground EMS for the scene transport of trauma victims to offset higher costs, inherent transport risks, and inevitable overtriage of patients with minor injury.
methodsWe developed a decision-analytic model to compare the costs and outcomes of helicopter versus ground EMS transport to a trauma center from a societal perspective during a patient's lifetime. We determined the mortality reduction needed to make helicopter transport cost less than $100,000 and $50,000 per quality-adjusted life-year gained compared with ground EMS. Model inputs were derived from the National Study on the Costs and Outcomes of Trauma, National Trauma Data Bank, Medicare reimbursements, and literature. We assessed robustness with probabilistic sensitivity analyses.
resultsHelicopter EMS must provide a minimum of a 15% relative risk reduction in mortality (1.3 lives saved/100 patients with the mean characteristics of the National Study on the Costs and Outcomes of Trauma cohort) to cost less than $100,000 per quality-adjusted life-year gained and a reduction of at least 30% (3.3 lives saved/100 patients) to cost less than $50,000 per quality-adjusted life-year. Helicopter EMS becomes more cost-effective with significant reductions in patients with minor injury who are triaged to air transport or if long-term disability outcomes are improved.
conclusionHelicopter EMS needs to provide at least a 15% mortality reduction or a measurable improvement in long-term disability to compare favorably with other interventions considered cost-effective. Given current evidence, it is not clear that helicopter EMS achieves this mortality or disability reduction. Reducing overtriage of patients with minor injury to helicopter EMS would improve its cost-effectiveness.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.