Designating Emergency Medical Services Essential Services

The bill declares emergency medical services as an essential service in the state and an integral part of the state's health-care infrastructure. In relation to the declaration, the bill authorizes:

• Public and private ambulance services in the state to participate in, and receive reimbursement from, public safety-related systems coordinated by the department of personnel or the department of public safety;
• The disbursement of money from the emergency medical services account in the highway users tax fund to counties and cities and counties that authorize ambulance services within their boundaries; and
• The governor to direct the transfer of money from the disaster emergency fund to the emergency medical services account to finance emergency medical services needed in response to a declared disaster emergency.

The bill also updates certain definitions related to emergency medical services, including the addition of a definition of "out-of-hospital setting", which term is included in and may be used interchangeably with the existing defined term "prehospital setting".

The bill clarifies that an off-duty emergency medical service provider is not obligated to respond to the scene of a medical emergency or provide emergency medical services.

(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)