Privatization discussed at medevac hearing

Emergency medical officials say more study is necessary to determine how many medevac helicopters are needed in Maryland, but some legislators on an oversight committee are anxious for answers and are looking into alternatives.

Dr. Robert Bass, the executive director of the Maryland Institute for Emergency Medical Services Systems, and Donald L. DeVries, Jr., chairman of the State Emergency Medical Services Board, told the Joint Committee on Health Care Delivery and Financing yesterday that a recent downward trend in the number of flights may not last.

Up to six months of data may have to be used, they said, to make a...