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AB-379 Emergency medical services.(2023-2024)

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Date Published: 07/10/2023 02:00 PM
AB379:v96#DOCUMENT

Amended  IN  Senate  July 10, 2023
Amended  IN  Senate  June 14, 2023
Amended  IN  Assembly  March 23, 2023

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill
No. 379

Introduced by Assembly Member Rodriguez

February 02, 2023

An act to amend Sections 1797.103, 1797.120, 1797.225, 1797.250, and 1797.254 of of, and to add Section 1797.255 to, the Health and Safety Code, relating to emergency medical services.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


AB 379, as amended, Rodriguez. Emergency medical services.
Existing law, the Emergency Medical Services System and the Prehospital Emergency Medical Care Personnel Act, governs local emergency medical services (EMS) systems. The existing act establishes the Emergency Medical Services Authority (authority), which is responsible for the coordination and integration of all emergency medical services. Existing law authorizes each county to develop an emergency medical services program and requires a county that does so to designate a local EMS agency (LEMSA).
Existing law requires the authority to develop planning and implementation guidelines for emergency medical services systems that address specified components, including the assessment of hospital and critical care centers and data collection and evaluation.
This bill would require these guidelines to include a list of standardized terminology for a LEMSA to use when granting exemptions for 911 response times, as specified.
Existing law requires the authority to develop and adopt, as specified, a statewide standard methodology for the calculation and reporting by a LEMSA of ambulance patient offload time.
This bill would require the authority to develop an audit tool to improve the accuracy of transfer of care data with validation from hospitals and LEMSAs.
Existing law authorizes a LEMSA to adopt policies and procedures for calculating and reporting ambulance patient offload times. Existing law authorizes a LEMSA to develop and submit an emergency medical services system plan to the authority and requires the times and requires a LEMSA to annually submit its emergency medical services plan for the EMS area to the authority, according to EMS Systems, Standards, and Guidelines established by the authority.
This bill would make these authorizations this authorization mandatory. The bill would require an a LEMSA to include its annual budget and any exemptions from meeting 911 response times in the previous calendar year with its annual emergency medical services plan submission. The bill would also require LEMSAs and the authority to make the plans accessible on the LEMSA’s and the authority’s internet websites within 30 days of approval by the authority. The bill would require the EMS Systems, Standards, and Guidelines to include a standardized list of exemptions from meeting 911 response times and would require a LEMSA’s 911-response-time exemption to conform to the standardized list once the authority has established the list. require LEMSAs, to the extent they have established 911 response times for EMS providers, to include a list of exemptions from meeting 911 response times granted in the previous calendar year, if any, with their annual emergency medical services plan submission.
Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: NO  

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:


SECTION 1.

 Section 1797.103 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to read:

1797.103.
 (a) The authority shall develop planning and implementation guidelines for emergency medical services systems which address the following components:

(a)

(1) Manpower and training.

(b)

(2) Communications.

(c)

(3) Transportation.

(d)

(4) Assessment of hospitals and critical care centers.

(e)

(5) System organization and management.

(f)

(6) Data collection and evaluation.

(g)

(7) Public information and education.

(h)

(8) Disaster response.
(b) The planning and implementation guidelines shall include a list of standardized terminology for local emergency medical services agencies to use when granting exemptions for 911 response times. The list of standardized exemptions shall include common reasons for granting exemptions from 911 response times in the various emergency medical services areas of the state.

SEC. 2.

 Section 1797.120 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to read:

1797.120.
 (a) The authority shall develop, using input from stakeholders, including, but not limited to, hospitals, local EMS agencies, and public and private EMS providers, and, after approval by the commission pursuant to Section 1799.50, adopt a statewide standard methodology for the calculation and reporting by a local EMS agency of ambulance patient offload time.
(b) For the purposes of this section, “ambulance patient offload time” is defined as the interval between the arrival of an ambulance patient at an emergency department and the time that the patient is transferred to an emergency department gurney, bed, chair, or other acceptable location and the emergency department assumes responsibility for care of the patient.
(c) The authority shall develop an audit tool to improve data accuracy of transfer of care with validation from hospitals and local EMS agencies.

SECTION 1.SEC. 3.

 Section 1797.225 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to read:

1797.225.
 (a) A local EMS agency shall adopt policies and procedures for calculating and reporting ambulance patient offload time, as defined in subdivision (b) of Section 1797.120.
(b) A local EMS agency that adopts policies and procedures for calculating and reporting ambulance patient offload time pursuant to subdivision (a) shall do all of the following:
(1) Use the statewide standard methodology for calculating and reporting ambulance patient offload time developed by the authority pursuant to Section 1797.120.
(2) Establish criteria for the reporting of, and quality assurance followup for, a nonstandard patient offload time, as defined in subdivision (c).

(3)Establish a process for hospitals and ambulance providers to review and validate the reported data, including arrival, transfer of care, and ambulance back-in-service times, and to dispute the reported data as well as a process to correct this data within 30 days.

(c) (1) For the purposes of this section, a “nonstandard patient offload time” means that the ambulance patient offload time for a patient exceeds a period of time designated in the criteria established by the local EMS agency pursuant to paragraph (2) of subdivision (b).
(2) “Nonstandard patient offload time” does not include instances when the ambulance patient offload time exceeds the period set by the local EMS agency due to acts of God, natural disasters, or manmade disasters.

SEC. 2.Section 1797.250 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to read:
1797.250.

(a)In each designated EMS area, the local EMS agency shall develop and submit a plan to the authority for an emergency medical services system according to the guidelines prescribed pursuant to Section 1797.103.

(b)(1)Each local EMS agency shall make the plan accessible on the agency’s internet website within 30 days of approval by the authority.

(2)The authority shall make each local EMS agency plan submitted to them accessible on the authority’s internet website within 30 days of approval by the authority.

(3)The Emergency Medical Services Authority shall approve or request changes to the proposed plans within 90 days of receipt.

SEC. 3.SEC. 4.

 Section 1797.254 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to read:

1797.254.
 (a) (1) Local EMS agencies shall annually submit an emergency medical services plan, plan that includes the local EMS agency’s annual budget and any exemptions from meeting 911 response times in the previous calendar year, for the EMS area to the authority, according to EMS Systems, Standards, and Guidelines established by the authority.
(2) The authority shall approve or request changes to the proposed plans within 90 days of receipt.
(b) (1) Each local EMS agency shall make the plan accessible on the agency’s internet website within 30 days of approval by the authority.
(2) The authority shall make each local EMS agency plan submitted to them accessible on the authority’s internet website within 30 days of approval by the authority.

(c)The EMS Systems, Standards, and Guidelines shall include a standardized list of exemptions from meeting 911 response times.

(d)The exemptions described in subdivision (a) shall conform to the standardized list described in subdivision (c) once the authority has established a standardized list.

SEC. 5.

 Section 1797.255 is added to the Health and Safety Code, to read:

1797.255.
 (a) (1) Local EMS agencies, to the extent they have established 911 response times for EMS providers, shall include a list of exemptions from meeting 911 response times, if any, in the annual EMS plan required pursuant to Section 1797.254.
(2) As part of the annual EMS plan submitted to the authority, local EMS agencies shall disclose any exemptions from meeting 911 response times granted in the previous calendar year.
(b) For purposes of subdivision (a), when standardized terminology for exemptions is established by the authority pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 1797.103, local EMS agencies shall utilize those standardized terms to the extent possible. Nothing in this section or in Section 1797.103 shall be construed to prohibit local EMS agencies from granting exemptions that do not use the terminology established by the authority when the reason for granting the exemption does not meet the terminology established by the authority. Nothing in this section or in Section 1797.103 shall prohibit a local EMS agency, when utilizing standardized terminology to grant exemptions from 911 response times, from including additional information or rationales when granting exemptions.