Bill Text: CA AB1223 | 2015-2016 | Regular Session | Chaptered

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Bill Title: Emergency medical services: ambulance transportation.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Passed) 2015-09-30 - Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 379, Statutes of 2015. [AB1223 Detail]

Download: California-2015-AB1223-Chaptered.html

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BILL NUMBER: AB 1223	CHAPTERED
	BILL TEXT

	CHAPTER  379
	FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE  SEPTEMBER 30, 2015
	APPROVED BY GOVERNOR  SEPTEMBER 30, 2015
	PASSED THE SENATE  AUGUST 31, 2015
	PASSED THE ASSEMBLY  SEPTEMBER 2, 2015
	AMENDED IN SENATE  JUNE 30, 2015
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  MAY 14, 2015
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  MAY 5, 2015
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  APRIL 14, 2015

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member O'Donnell

                        FEBRUARY 27, 2015

   An act to add Sections 1797.120 and 1797.225 to the Health and
Safety Code, relating to emergency medical services.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 1223, O'Donnell. Emergency medical services: ambulance
transportation.
   Existing law establishes the Emergency Medical Services Authority,
and requires it to adopt regulations that further the purpose of
establishing a statewide system for emergency medical services.
Existing law, the Emergency Medical Services System and the
Prehospital Emergency Medical Care Personnel Act, authorizes each
county to develop an emergency medical services program. The act
further authorizes a local emergency medical services (EMS) agency to
develop and submit a plan to the Emergency Medical Services
Authority for an emergency medical services system, and requires the
local EMS agency, using state minimum standards, to establish
policies and procedures to assure medical control of the emergency
medical services system that may require basic life support emergency
medical transportation services to meet any medical control
requirements, including dispatch, patient destination policies,
patient care guidelines, and quality assurance requirements.
   This bill would authorize a local EMS agency to adopt policies and
procedures relating to ambulance patient offload time, as defined.
The bill would require the authority to develop a statewide standard
methodology for the calculation and reporting by a local EMS agency
of ambulance patient offload time.



THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 1797.120 is added to the Health and Safety
Code, 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.
  SEC. 2.  Section 1797.225 is added to the Health and Safety Code,
to read:
   1797.225.  (a) A local EMS agency may 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).
   (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
in which the ambulance patient offload time exceeds the period set by
the local EMS agency due to acts of God, natural disasters, or
manmade disasters.