MedFlight of Ohio was established in April of 1995. MedFlight is made possible by our consortium hospitals including Grant/Riverside Methodist Hospitals (OhioHealth), The Ohio State University Medical Center and Akron General Medical Center. MedFlight also has partnerships with the Cleveland Clinic, Akron Children’s Hospital, and Columbus Children’s Hospital.
Making History...
In just four short years after it’s inception as a private not-for-profit company, MedFlight offered Ohio the only complete menu of solely owned and operated critical care transport options for pre-hospital and hospital partners throughout its service area.
In ten years, the company has successfully based six full-time medical helicopters at six ancillary locations in Ohio . These helicopters and their crews successfully completed over 4,000 patient transports throughout Ohio and neighboring states in 2005 alone.
In addition to helicopters, the company currently operates six Mobile Intensive Care Units (MICU) at four different locations in Ohio, which are utilized for inter-hospital transport. The MICU Division completed approximately 4,000 transports in 2005.
The addition of fixed wing services in 1997 gave Ohio the first solely owned and dedicated three-part critical care transportation entity in the state, providing approximately 8,500 total patient transports in 2005.
A Revolutionary Network...
In 1994, Columbus based Grant Medical Center and Ohio State University Hospitals announced plans to consolidate LifeFlight and SkyMed, the hospitals’ rotor wing transport services, into a new entity called MedFlight. At that time, both hospitals worked to create a separate company, keeping in mind that the consolidation would save millions of healthcare dollars annually by eliminating duplication and simplifying access to emergency transportation, while maintaining high-quality care.
MedFlight is currently the only critical care transportation organization in the state that offers a network of owned and operated critical care ground and diversified air transportation services with ancillary bases.
MedFlight president and CEO Rod Crane says the service is doing better than anyone thought ten years ago. “The sponsoring hospitals originally estimated cost savings of around $500,000 to $1.5 million in the first year of operation, Crane says. They planned to subsidize us with $1.2 million the first year, and a second year subsidy of half that amount. By the third year, projections called for the company to be self-supporting. In short, the owner hospitals had departed from the traditional hospital owned model to create a lean, mean, critical care machine that would be prepared for the challenges of the new millennium.”
“We exceeded the projection by 18 months, “Crane says. “The Board of Directors has been pleased, and the community that we served.” Indeed, the board has much to be pleased about. Neither Grant/Riverside nor The Ohio State University Medical Center is incurring losses anymore regarding these services. MedFlight’s first-year loss was only $766,244, more than $400,000 less than expected.
After two years of operation, the company was solvent. The surplus from that year and the most recent years are being invested back into the service as MedFlight expands.
A New Frontier...
In addition, MedFlight’s regional network includes rotor wing bases in six different counties (Franklin, Union, Jackson, Coshocton, Medina, and Morgan counties), MICU bases in four counties (Franklin, Marion, Wayne and Cuyahoga counties), and fixed wing services that can access almost any community airport from Franklin County . MedFlight completed over 9000 patient transports in 2005, and expects even more requests in 2006.
Our volume is a true reflection of the value that we strive to offer our customers and friends in the EMS community, along with our strong history of quality medical care and reliability with many Ohio hospitals. The community knows the value of what we strive to do, and rewards us by calling back.
Due to the level of service and qualified medical personnel that the organization possesses, MedFlight is continually offering free educational initiatives to EMS, hospitals, and associations throughout the state of Ohio. This enhances critical care transportation services because MedFlight will be able to integrate MICU, rotor wing, and fixed wing operations into one solely owned and integrated, organization.
Fixed wing services provide high quality patient care for long distance transfers, while assisting the rotor wing division when weather conditions or extended distances warrant alternative means of transport. Our two aircraft provide services to a market radius of over 700 flight miles to the East Coast, including markets as far south as Florida, as far west as Nebraska, and as far north as Canada. In addition, MedFlight can also arrange jet services while maintaining consistent in-house medical care.
