AMBULANCE AVAILABILITY; COUNTY POP. S.B. 929:
REVISED SUMMARY OF INTRODUCED
BILL IN COMMITTEE
Senate Bill 929 (as introduced 4-11-18)
Sponsor: Senator Tom Casperson
CONTENT
The bill would amend Part 209 (Emergency Medical Services) of the Public Health Code to permit an ambulance operation whose primary service area was in a county or micropolitan area with a population of 10,000 or less, with fewer than seven people per square mile, to operate at a reduced or increased level of licensure, if certain conditions were met.
Under Part 209, an ambulance operation license must state the highest level of life support (i.e., basic, limited advanced, or advanced) the ambulance operation is licensed to provide. An ambulance operation must not provide life support at a level that exceeds its license and available licensed personnel.
The bill would permit a limited or advanced ambulance operation whose primary service area was in a county or micropolitan area with a population of 10,000 or less and whose primary service area had a population density of fewer than seven people per square mile to have an ambulance available at less than the limited or advanced level of licensure if both of the following conditions were met:
-- The medical control authority under which the ambulance operation operated authorized the lesser availability.
-- The advanced ambulance operation had in place local medical control authority protocols approved by the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS).
Additionally, the bill would permit a basic ambulance operation whose primary service area met the criteria described above to operate at an increased level of licensure when staffed with an emergency medical services (EMT)-specialist or EMT paramedic if all of the following were met:
-- The basic ambulance was equipped at the greater licensure level.
-- The medical control authority under which the ambulance operation operated authorized the conditional increased level of licensure.
-- The basic ambulance operation had DHHS-approved Local Medical Control Authority protocols in place.
("Micropolitan area" would mean a metropolitan statistical area as most recently delineated by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget.
The Code defines "medical control authority" as an organization designated by the DHHS as the control for emergency medical services for a particular geographic region. "Protocol"
means a patient care standard, standing orders, policy, or procedure for providing emergency medical services that is established by a medical control authority and approved by the DHHS.)
Proposed MCL 333.20921b Legislative Analyst: Stephen Jackson
FISCAL IMPACT
The bill would have no fiscal impact on State or local government.
Fiscal Analyst: Elizabeth Raczkowski
This analysis was prepared by nonpartisan Senate staff for use by the Senate in its deliberations and does not constitute an official statement of legislative intent.