A panel of the National Advertising Review Board (NARB), the appellate advertising law body of BBB National Programs, has recommended that Air Methods Corporation modify or discontinue certain advertising claims for its Air Ambulance Transport service. The panel, comprises of industry professionals and chaired by Professor Scott Hamula (IMC faculty), also upheld the advertiser’s appeal as to other claims.
The advertising at issue had been challenged by Global Medical Response, Inc. and its subsidiary, Air Evac EMS, Inc. (collectively, GMR), before the National Advertising Division (NAD). Following NAD’s decision (Case No. 7006), Air Methods appealed NAD’s recommendations.
In many areas of the U.S., particularly in rural areas, access to advanced medical services through ground ambulance transport is limited or non-existent. In those areas, air medical transport services use helicopters to transport patients to hospitals and burn centers in a timely manner. The parties to this proceeding and their competitors maintain fleets of helicopters staffed with trained medical personnel who are dispatched at the request of first responders, hospitals, or physicians.
Many of the challenged claims relate to membership programs and fees associated with the air medical transport of patients. GMR offers a “subscription membership program,” but Air Methods does not.
Air Methods stated that it “will comply with NARB’s decision.” Further, the advertiser stated that although it “respectfully disagrees” with certain of NARB’s findings, “we support the self-regulatory process and will consider NAD’s and NARB’s recommendations with respect to future advertising.”
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About the National Advertising Review Board (NARB): The National Advertising Review Board (NARB) is the appellate body for BBB National Programs’ advertising self-regulatory programs. NARB’s panel members include 85 distinguished volunteer professionals from the national advertising industry, agencies, and public members, such as academics and former members of the public sector. NARB serves as a layer of independent industry peer review that helps engender trust and compliance in NAD, CARU, and DSSRC matters.