title: The Air Medical Leadership Congress: setting the health care agenda for the air medical community.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Emergency air medical transport provides the means for critically ill or injured patients to rapidly access sophisticated medical flight teams and medical centers. However, issues such as surging emergency medical services helicopter accidents, expected pilot and nurse shortages, falling reimbursements, and new compliance regulations are now threatening these important but expensive transport services. Unless an industry strategy can be developed to address these and other threats, many medical flight programs may be forced to curtail the availability of these lifesaving services.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  On September 4-6, 2003, air medical leaders, experts, program managers, providers, and users of emergency air medical services gathered in Salt Lake City, Utah, to discuss and formulate recommendations to address the top issues that threaten the future of air medical transport services. This congress was open to anyone engaged in the field of air medical transport. This historic meeting resulted in a plan to enhance transport safety, foster appropriate utilization, improve in-flight medical care, maximize cost and reimbursement effectiveness, and develop strategies to reduce the adverse effects of new regulatory and compliance mandates.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This article describes the significance of the Air Medical Leadership Congress and the 10-Point Plan method used to develop it.
authors.affiliation: IHC Life Flight, LDS Hospital, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.
authors.forename: Frank
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Thomas
authors.forename: Laurie
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Romig
authors.forename: Kevin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hutton
authors.forename: Pat
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Petersen
authors.forename: Stephen H
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Thomas
authors.forename: Suzanne
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wedel
authors.forename: Reed
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Brozen
mesh_terms: D017732:Air Ambulances; D003226:Congresses as Topic; D004632:Emergency Medical Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D007857:Leadership; D010934:Planning Techniques; D011050:Policy Making; D014481:United States