AMBULANCE AVAILABILITY; COUNTY POP.                                                 S.B. 929 (S-1):

                                                                                   SUMMARY OF SUBSTITUTE BILL

                                                                                                         IN COMMITTEE

Senate Bill 929 (Substitute S-1)

Sponsor:  Senator Tom Casperson

Committee:  Health Policy

Date Completed:  6-19-18

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 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 ambulance operation whose primary service area was in a county 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 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 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 a limited ambulance operation level of licensure when staffed with an advanced emergency medical technician 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.

(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:  Ellyn Ackerman

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.