Bill Text: IL HB5085 | 2023-2024 | 103rd General Assembly | Engrossed

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Reinserts the provisions of the introduced bill with the following changes. Removes changes to provisions concerning the EMT Training, Recruitment, and Retention Task Force; Emergency Medical Services personnel licensure levels; and vehicle service providers. Removes language providing that an education plan within a resource hospital may include classes performed outside of the region in which the resource hospital is located. Provides that an EMS System may coordinate education outside of the region of which it is located with valid justification and Department of Public Health approval. Provides that the didactic portion of education may be conducted through an online platform with EMS System and Department approval. Sets forth provisions concerning Department approval. Provides that an EMS Lead Instructor may oversee a paramedic with at least 3 years of experience to teach EMT classes, with a licensed teacher, in high schools. Provides that high school students electing to not take the National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians (NREMT) Certification exam shall not be accounted for in calculating the course pass rate by the EMS System or Department.

Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 15-7)

Status: (Passed) 2024-07-19 - Public Act . . . . . . . . . 103-0689 [HB5085 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2023-HB5085-Engrossed.html

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AN ACT concerning regulation.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
Section 5. The Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Systems
Act is amended by changing Sections 3.5, 3.35, and 3.65 as
follows:
(210 ILCS 50/3.5)
Sec. 3.5. Definitions. As used in this Act:
"Clinical observation" means the ongoing observation of a
patient's medical or mental health condition by a licensed
health care professional utilizing a medical skill set while
continuing assessment and care.
"Department" means the Illinois Department of Public
Health.
"Director" means the Director of the Illinois Department
of Public Health.
"Emergency" means a medical condition of recent onset and
severity that would lead a prudent layperson, possessing an
average knowledge of medicine and health, to believe that
urgent or unscheduled medical care is required.
"Emergency Medical Services personnel" or "EMS personnel"
means persons licensed as an Emergency Medical Responder (EMR)
(First Responder), Emergency Medical Dispatcher (EMD),

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Emergency Medical Technician (EMT), Emergency Medical
Technician-Intermediate (EMT-I), Advanced Emergency Medical
Technician (A-EMT), Paramedic (EMT-P), Emergency
Communications Registered Nurse (ECRN), Pre-Hospital
Registered Nurse (PHRN), Pre-Hospital Advanced Practice
Registered Nurse (PHAPRN), or Pre-Hospital Physician Assistant
(PHPA).
"Exclusive representative" has the same meaning as defined
in Section 3 of the Illinois Public Labor Relations Act.
"Health care facility" means a hospital, nursing home,
physician's office or other fixed location at which medical
and health care services are performed. It does not include
"pre-hospital emergency care settings" which utilize EMS
personnel to render pre-hospital emergency care prior to the
arrival of a transport vehicle, as defined in this Act.
"Hospital" has the meaning ascribed to that term in the
Hospital Licensing Act.
"Labor organization" has the same meaning as defined in
Section 3 of the Illinois Public Labor Relations Act.
"Medical monitoring" means the performance of medical
tests and physical exams to evaluate an individual's ongoing
exposure to a factor that could negatively impact that
person's health. "Medical monitoring" includes close
surveillance or supervision of patients liable to suffer
deterioration in physical or mental health and checks of
various parameters such as pulse rate, temperature,

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respiration rate, the condition of the pupils, the level of
consciousness and awareness, the degree of appreciation of
pain, and blood gas concentrations such as oxygen and carbon
dioxide.
"Silver spanner program" means a program in which a member
under a fire department's or fire protection district's
collective bargaining agreement works on or at the EMS System
under another fire department's or fire protection district's
collective bargaining agreement and (i) the other fire
department or fire protection district is not the member's
full-time employer and (ii) any EMS services not included
under the original fire department's or fire protection
district's collective bargaining agreement are included in the
other fire department's or fire protection district's
collective bargaining agreement.
"Trauma" means any significant injury which involves
single or multiple organ systems.
(Source: P.A. 103-521, eff. 1-1-24.)
(210 ILCS 50/3.35)
Sec. 3.35. Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Resource
Hospital; Functions. The Resource Hospital of an EMS System
shall:
(a) Prepare a Program Plan in accordance with the
provisions of this Act and minimum standards and criteria
established in rules adopted by the Department pursuant to

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this Act, and submit such Program Plan to the Department
for approval.
(b) Appoint an EMS Medical Director, who will
continually monitor and supervise the System and who will
have the responsibility and authority for total management
of the System as delegated by the EMS Resource Hospital.
The Program Plan shall require the EMS Medical
Director to appoint an alternate EMS Medical Director and
establish a written protocol addressing the functions to
be carried out in his or her absence.
(c) Appoint an EMS System Coordinator and EMS
Administrative Director in consultation with the EMS
Medical Director and in accordance with rules adopted by
the Department pursuant to this Act.
(d) Identify potential EMS System participants and
obtain commitments from them for the provision of
services.
(e) Educate or coordinate the education of EMS
personnel and all other license holders in accordance with
the requirements of this Act, rules adopted by the
Department pursuant to this Act, and the EMS System
Program Plan. An EMS System may coordinate education
outside of the region of which it is located with valid
justification and Department approval. The didactic
portion of education may be conducted through an online
platform with EMS System and Department approval. An

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education plan within a Resource Hospital may include
classes performed outside of the region in which the
Resource Hospital is located. When considering whether to
approve or deny an education plan for classes performed
outside of the region in which a Resource Hospital is
located, the Department shall give deference to the EMS
Medical Director's education plan request and shall not
unreasonably withhold approval.
(f) Notify the Department of EMS personnel who have
successfully completed the requirements as provided by law
for initial licensure, license renewal, and license
reinstatement by the Department.
(g) Educate or coordinate the education of Emergency
Medical Dispatcher candidates, in accordance with the
requirements of this Act, rules adopted by the Department
pursuant to this Act, and the EMS System Program Plan.
(h) Establish or approve protocols for prearrival
medical instructions to callers by System Emergency
Medical Dispatchers who provide such instructions.
(i) Educate or coordinate the education of
Pre-Hospital Registered Nurse, Pre-Hospital Advanced
Practice Registered Nurse, Pre-Hospital Physician
Assistant, and ECRN candidates, in accordance with the
requirements of this Act, rules adopted by the Department
pursuant to this Act, and the EMS System Program Plan.
(j) Approve Pre-Hospital Registered Nurse,

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Pre-Hospital Advanced Practice Registered Nurse,
Pre-Hospital Physician Assistant, and ECRN candidates to
practice within the System, and reapprove Pre-Hospital
Registered Nurses, Pre-Hospital Advanced Practice
Registered Nurses, Pre-Hospital Physician Assistants, and
ECRNs every 4 years in accordance with the requirements of
the Department and the System Program Plan.
(k) Establish protocols for the use of Pre-Hospital
Registered Nurses, Pre-Hospital Advanced Practice
Registered Nurses, and Pre-Hospital Physician Assistants
within the System.
(l) Establish protocols for utilizing ECRNs and
physicians licensed to practice medicine in all of its
branches to monitor telecommunications from, and give
voice orders to, EMS personnel, under the authority of the
EMS Medical Director.
(m) Monitor emergency and non-emergency medical
transports within the System, in accordance with rules
adopted by the Department pursuant to this Act.
(n) Utilize levels of personnel required by the
Department to provide emergency care to the sick and
injured at the scene of an emergency, during transport to
a hospital or during inter-hospital transport and within
the hospital emergency department until the responsibility
for the care of the patient is assumed by the medical
personnel of a hospital emergency department or other

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facility within the hospital to which the patient is first
delivered by System personnel.
(o) Utilize levels of personnel required by the
Department to provide non-emergency medical services
during transport to a health care facility and within the
health care facility until the responsibility for the care
of the patient is assumed by the medical personnel of the
health care facility to which the patient is delivered by
System personnel.
(p) Establish and implement a program for System
participant information and education, in accordance with
rules adopted by the Department pursuant to this Act.
(q) Establish and implement a program for public
information and education, in accordance with rules
adopted by the Department pursuant to this Act.
(r) Operate in compliance with the EMS Region Plan.
(Source: P.A. 100-1082, eff. 8-24-19.)
(210 ILCS 50/3.65)
Sec. 3.65. EMS Lead Instructor.
(a) "EMS Lead Instructor" means a person who has
successfully completed a course of education as approved by
the Department, and who is currently approved by the
Department to coordinate or teach education, training and
continuing education courses, in accordance with standards
prescribed by this Act and rules adopted by the Department

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pursuant to this Act.
(b) The Department shall have the authority and
responsibility to:
(1) Prescribe education requirements for EMS Lead
Instructor candidates through rules adopted pursuant to
this Act.
(2) Prescribe testing requirements for EMS Lead
Instructor candidates through rules adopted pursuant to
this Act.
(3) Charge each candidate for EMS Lead Instructor a
fee to be submitted with an application for an
examination, an application for licensure, and an
application for relicensure.
(4) Approve individuals as EMS Lead Instructors who
have met the Department's education and testing
requirements.
(5) Require that all education, training and
continuing education courses for EMT, EMT-I, A-EMT,
Paramedic, PHRN, PHPA, PHAPRN, ECRN, EMR, and Emergency
Medical Dispatcher be coordinated by at least one approved
EMS Lead Instructor. A program which includes education,
training or continuing education for more than one type of
personnel may use one EMS Lead Instructor to coordinate
the program, and a single EMS Lead Instructor may
simultaneously coordinate more than one program or course.
An EMS Lead Instructor may oversee a paramedic with at

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