2021 -- S 0860 SUBSTITUTE A

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     STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2021

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A N   A C T

RELATING TO HEALTH AND SAFETY -- EMERGENCY MEDICAL TRANSPORTATION

SERVICES--AMBULANCE SERVICE COORDINATING BOARD

     Introduced By: Senator F Lombardi

     Date Introduced: April 30, 2021

     Referred To: Senate Health & Human Services

     It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:

     SECTION 1. Sections 23-4.1-3 and 23-4.1-8 of the General Laws in Chapter 23-4.1 entitled

"Emergency Medical Transportation Services" are hereby amended to read as follows:

     23-4.1-3. Duties of the director.

     (a) The director of health, referred to as the "director," shall have full authority to

implement the provisions of this chapter and shall be guided by the purposes and intent of this

chapter.

     (b) The director shall cooperate with hospitals, furnishers of ambulance services, local

governments, police departments, fire departments, emergency units, first aid groups, or any other

groups that furnish or work with groups that furnish emergency medical services.

     (c) The director shall cooperate with concerned agencies and individuals to coordinate

programs for training emergency medical technicians, and other persons who provide emergency

medical care services, including dispatchers. If funds are available, the director may establish

training grants to aid groups and communities to train people in emergency medical care.

     (d) The standards used by the director under this chapter shall be reasonable and based

upon local and statewide conditions. However, the minimum standards imposed by the director

may be the standards issued by any responsible organization having its main concern the disposition

of injured persons.

     (e) The director shall annually submit a report to the governor and the general assembly.

     (f) The director shall cooperate in the coordination of ambulance services throughout the

state with local or state police and fire authorities and other concerned agencies and individuals,

including the state civil defense agency. This coordination may be tested by local exercises from

time to time.

     (g) The director shall cooperate with concerned agencies and individuals in the

development of a state communications network involving the transportation of injured persons by

vehicles licensed under this chapter and hospitals. The director may allocate available funds for the

establishing and maintenance of a communications network involving vehicles, hospitals, and other

emergency treating organizations within the state.

     (h) The director shall cooperate with concerned agencies and individuals in the

development of a plan for the coordination of ambulance dispatching services with the state.

     (i) When proposing standards under this chapter, the director shall prepare and publish for

the board a financial impact statement.

     23-4.1-8. Applications for license.

     (a) Any person, firm, partnership, corporation, municipality, volunteer units, or any other

business or organization providing ambulance service shall, at the time of license application,

furnish the director of health with a list of all persons authorized to act as an attendant of any

ambulance owned or operated by the applicant. Further, all applicants shall submit to the director

the person who shall serve as the emergency medical service physician medical director (the

“physician medical director”). The physician medical director shall be a physician board-certified

or board-eligible in emergency medicine and/or E.M.S. The physician medical director must have

an active Rhode Island license to practice medicine. The ambulance service coordinating advisory

board shall establish standards for the duties and responsibilities of the physician medical director.

     (b) The director shall provide application forms for licenses under this section.

     (c) Subject to the approval of the board, the director shall make reasonable minimum

standards of health, performance, fitness, education, and moral fitness. The director may use the

guides established by the American College of Surgeons' Board of Regents as a standard, except

that a felony conviction shall not necessarily disqualify an attendant.

     (d) Each applicant shall hold a current certificate of completion of at least an emergency

medical technical-ambulance course approved by the board. Each applicant shall hold a current

certificate of completion of either:

      (1) An emergency medical responder course;

     (2) An emergency medical technician course;

     (3) An advanced emergency medical technician course;

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     (4) An advanced emergency medical technician-cardiac course; or

     (5) A paramedic course.

     These courses shall be approved by the board. The certificate needed shall be decided by

the person, firm, partnership, corporation, municipality , or any other business or organization

providing ambulance service employing the individual licensee or in the case of a volunteer unit

the unit for whom the individual licensee is volunteering for.

     (e) If there is a hardship imposed upon any applicant for a license because of an unusual

circumstance, the applicant may apply to the director for a temporary waiver of the licensing

provisions for good cause shown. The director has the power to waive licensing provisions for a

period not to exceed ninety (90) days.

     SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon passage.

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EXPLANATION

BY THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL

OF

A N   A C T

RELATING TO HEALTH AND SAFETY -- EMERGENCY MEDICAL TRANSPORTATION

SERVICES--AMBULANCE SERVICE COORDINATING BOARD

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     This act would provide that when proposing standards regarding emergency medical

transportation services, the director of health would prepare and publish a financial impact

statement for the ambulance service coordinating advisory board. This act would also provide that

each applicant for a license to provide ambulance services would need to hold a certificate of

completion from one of several different courses listed in the act, including but not limited to an

emergency medical responder course.

     This act would take effect upon passage.

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