The purpose of this study was to analyze the cost-effectiveness of helicopter emergency medical services (HEMS) for its economic operations in South Korea.

This study targeted trauma patients that were transported by either HEMS or ground emergency medical services (GEMS) from the scene of an accident to a regional emergency medical center. From this patient population, severe trauma patients (injury severity score ISS ≥ 16 points) with a distance travelled from the scene of the injury to the hospital that was 30 km or longer and with analyzable outcome data were extracted and included in this study. Cost-effectiveness was analyzed from survival and efficiency based on medical costs incurred from the pre-hospital setting to hospital discharge. This study included a total of 34 HEMS and 105 GEMS patients with an Injury Severity Score (ISS) ≥ 16 points from a pool of 357 potential patients.

The survival-to-discharge rate of HEMS was 29 of 34 patients (85.3%) and was significantly higher than that of GEMS, where only 66 of 105 patients (62.8%) survived to discharge (P = 0.024). The expected and the actual mortality was higher in HEMS than it was in GEMS. Statistical significant difference in cost was found between the 2 groups (P = 0.002).

The results of the present study indicate the increased discharge rate, survival rate and reduced in hospital mortality of HEMS with reduced admission time. This result association leads to reasonable cost effectiveness and efficient estimates overall.