Code Section

1797.120.5.  

(a) (1) By no later than December 31, 2024, the authority shall develop and implement a California Emergency Medical Services Information System requirement for an electronic signature for use between the emergency department medical personnel at a receiving hospital and the Emergency Medical Technician (EMT), Advanced Emergency Medical Technician (AEMT), or Emergency Medical Technician-Paramedic (EMT-P) that captures the points in time when the ambulance arrives at the hospital emergency department bay and when transfer of care is executed for documentation of ambulance patient offload time, as defined by Section 1797.120.

(2) The signature shall be collected when physical transfer of the patient occurs and the report is given to hospital staff and shall note ambulance arrival time at the hospital.

(b) (1) By no later than July 1, 2024, every local EMS agency shall develop a standard not to exceed 30 minutes, 90 percent of the time, for ambulance patient offload time and report the adopted time to the authority.

(2) In the development of the standard required by paragraph (1), the local EMS agency may engage stakeholders, including hospital representatives, fire departments having jurisdiction, exclusive employee representatives of staff at hospitals, fire departments, EMS providers, if any, and others.

(c) By no later than December 31, 2024, the authority shall develop and implement an audit tool to improve the data accuracy of transfer of care with validation from hospitals and local EMS agencies.

(d) The authority shall provide technical assistance and funding as needed, subject to an appropriation, for small rural hospitals and volunteer EMS providers to implement this section.

(e) On or before December 31, 2024, the authority shall adopt emergency regulations to implement this section. The emergency regulations adopted pursuant to this section shall be adopted in accordance with Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code, and, for purposes of that chapter, including Section 11349.6 of the Government Code, the adoption of the regulations is an emergency and shall be considered by the Office of Administrative Law as necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health and safety, and general welfare.