The Hawaii State Department of Health (DOH) has announced the issuance of Notices of Award for the Essential Rural Medical Air Transport (ERMAT) Pilot Program. The program is awarded to Pūlama Ka Heke, a nonprofit healthcare organization based on Moloka'i, and a collaboration between Pūlama Ka Heke and Lāna'i Kinā'ole, a home healthcare agency, specifically for Lāna'i.
The ERMAT program is designed to assist with transportation for scheduled healthcare services that are not available on Moloka'i and Lāna'i. However, it will not cover air ambulance services where medical care is needed during the flight. Residents from both islands often face the necessity of traveling to other islands for essential care, where they are subject to delays, cancellations, and groundings. Such disruptions can leave residents stranded or cause them to miss vital medical appointments.
To address these issues, the Hawaii Legislature allocated $2 million in 2024 to establish the ERMAT Pilot Program. The DOH organized over 45 listening sessions and two town halls with healthcare administrators, providers, and community members to define program priorities, identify patient needs, and find ways to increase provider visits to the islands.
The ERMAT Pilot Program seeks to create sustainable models for inter-island medical air transport that tackle the specific challenges of healthcare access in rural island communities. Additionally, the DOH is working towards engaging potential air ambulance providers to boost the statewide capacity for emergency aeromedical transportation.