When you find yourself in an emergency that requires you to travel a long distance to seek medical help, it’s essential to consider various factors, including costs. The article below explains the costs of long distance medical transportation and the factors that might cause the cost to vary.
What Is Long Distance Medical Transportation?
When a patient is in a critical condition that doesn't allow them to fly, they might consider using long distance ground transport via an ambulance. The long-distance medical transport involves having qualified personnel on board to help through comprehensive pre-hospital treatments.
While traveling, the patient is provided with first aid and therefore, even for a severe condition, it’s managed. The design of long distance medical transportation is not easy, but people consider the quality of services they will receive at the end. It’s worth taking the risk to provide high-quality services to patients who have gone for miles to seek medical help.
There are various reasons, including lack of specific medical equipment, personnel, or even referrals, that make people travel long distances for this service. The costs are mainly determined by distance. A ground ambulance could charge about $3500+ for a trip.
Average Long Distance Medical Transportation Costs
The costs of both air and road long distance medical transportation vary among countries and hospitals, also based on the severity of the patient’s condition. For air transportation, the costs can go up to around $20,000 for a single trip. The distance matters since the longer the distance, the greater the resources used and costs spent.
Long Distance Medical Transportation Cost Breakdown
The expenses incurred during long distance travel include hiring personnel, who are all trained to be on board with the patients providing comprehensive pre-hospital services. The Air Medical Transport company has taken the initiative to provide vans and private jets to aid in transporting patients to various medical centers worldwide.
Factors Affecting the Cost of Long Distance Medical Transportation
Deciding to use long-distance medical transport entails being able to consider various factors including, but not limited to,
- Distance Covered - This distance is the primary factor that should be regarded as how long the drive or flight will be to avoid unnecessary surprises on costs. Companies providing transport medical services should consider having an aligned distance and time calculating system.
- Level of Care - Patients are cared for while in the ambulance, hence the need to consider if the care is specialty care services or Basic Life support with a wheelchair van. Understanding the category you fall into prepares you in advance for the costs.
- Trip Frequency - Patients often going for checkups to the hospital might be given a slight discount.
- Quality - Companies offering high-quality transportation services (for instance, first-class services) have a relatively high cost.
Additional Costs Associated with Long Distance Medical Transportation
While traveling with long-distance medical transportation companies, there might be additional costs when provided with first-class services. The number of personnel on board can increase due to the severity of the patient’s situation, which will also hike up your bill.
Conclusion
In conclusion, we find that long-distance transportation can be valuable and worth the cost, as there are high-quality services involved. It’s recommended to enroll to be a member of Air Med Transportation Company to reduce the charges incurred, as you could be paying thousands of dollars for a single trip.
