LifeFlight of Maine Matches Paramedic Pay to Nurses

LifeFlight of Maine now pays paramedics the same amount as its flight nurses, a pay parity measure that is rare in the emergency medical services industry.

The change is part of a strategy to stabilize a workforce that historically left the field at high rates. CEO Joe Kellner says the company retained only 60% to 70% of its workers for years before implementing these changes.

Demand for air medical transport in Maine has doubled since 2015. Crews completed 3,031 flights in 2025, a pace of more than one flight every three hours. Demand rose another 10% this year.

The increase in flights corresponds with a decline in local hospital capacity. Rural hospitals are closing or converting to outpatient-only facilities, removing services like labor and delivery. The Congressional Budget Office estimates Medicaid cuts will remove $911 billion from the system over ten years, putting hundreds more rural facilities at risk.

As ground ambulance stations struggle to meet rising demand, air crews handle a growing share of interfacility transports. These missions involve stabilizing a patient at a small local hospital and flying them to a larger center with more resources. Scene calls, such as roadside accidents, account for less than 10% of LifeFlight’s transports.

Kellner, a former paramedic who became CEO in 2023, introduced the Critical Care Academy. This six to eight month orientation program includes rigorous simulations and annual skills assessments. Instructors monitor paramedics as they treat mannequins in controlled environments, manipulating vital signs on wall monitors to simulate real medical crises.

The company also launched a mentorship program to identify qualified recruits. LifeFlight hired one of last year’s mentees. Additionally, the organization hired a full-time mental health counselor to support staff dealing with post-traumatic stress, anxiety, and depression.

Paramedic Brian Merklin joined LifeFlight after leaving the profession for a few years. He worked in Nevada during the pandemic, where crews worked four-day shifts and about a third of the staff quit. Merklin serves on a peer support team and credits the company’s counseling services for helping him stay in the field.

Kellner argues that retaining staff is a financial necessity. The cost to train a new worker is approximately $100,000. Keeping two or three people through counseling is a wise investment compared to the expense of recruitment and training.

LifeFlight is one of a handful of independent nonprofit air medical companies in the nation. Mike Abernethy, a retired emergency medicine professor at the University of Wisconsin, calls it a model program. He argues the aviation and medical quality of such programs far exceeds that of the average for-profit air medical business.

The company is nearly fully staffed this year, a status it has not achieved in nine years. As the healthcare system relies more on air ambulances to bridge the gap between closing rural hospitals and major trauma centers, the focus on retention and training continues.