Substitute Senate Bill No. 941
Public Act No. 17-84
AN ACT CONCERNING THE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH'S RECOMMENDATIONS REGARDING REVISIONS TO LOCAL EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES PLANS.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened:
Section 1. Section 19a-181b of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 1, 2017):
(a) [Not later than July 1, 2002, each] Each municipality shall establish a local emergency medical services plan. Such plan shall include the written agreements or contracts developed between the municipality, its emergency medical services providers and the public safety answering point, as defined in section 28-25, that covers the municipality. The plan shall also include, but not be limited to, the following:
(1) The identification of levels of emergency medical services, including, but not limited to: (A) The public safety answering point responsible for receiving emergency calls and notifying and assigning the appropriate provider to a call for emergency medical services; (B) the emergency medical services provider that is notified for initial response; (C) basic ambulance service; (D) advanced life support level; and (E) mutual aid call arrangements;
(2) The name of the person or entity responsible for carrying out each level of emergency medical services that the plan identifies;
(3) The establishment of performance standards, including, but not limited to, standards for responding to a certain percentage of initial response notifications, response times, quality assurance and service area coverage patterns, for each segment of the municipality's emergency medical services system; and
(4) Any subcontracts, written agreements or mutual aid call agreements that emergency medical services providers may have with other entities to provide services identified in the plan.
(b) In developing the plan required by subsection (a) of this section, each municipality: (1) May consult with and obtain the assistance of its regional emergency medical services council established pursuant to section 19a-183, its regional emergency medical services coordinator appointed pursuant to section 19a-186a, its regional emergency medical services medical advisory committees and any sponsor hospital, as defined in regulations adopted pursuant to section 19a-179, located in the area identified in the plan; and (2) shall submit the plan to its regional emergency medical services council for the council's review and comment.
(c) Each municipality shall update the plan required by subsection (a) of this section [as the municipality determines is necessary] not less than once every five years. The municipality shall consult with the municipality's primary service area responder concerning any updates to the plan. The Department of Public Health shall, upon request, assist each municipality in the process of updating the plan by providing technical assistance and helping to resolve any disagreements concerning the provisions of the plan.
(d) Not less than once every five years, [said department] each municipality shall review [a municipality's] its plan and the primary service area responder's provision of services under the plan [. Such review shall include an evaluation of such responder's compliance with applicable laws and regulations] and submit a revised plan to the Commissioner of Public Health. The commissioner shall evaluate each municipality's plan on an ongoing basis. The commissioner shall provide not less than one hundred twenty days of notice to a municipality as to when the commissioner's evaluation of the revised plan will be conducted. Upon the conclusion of such evaluation, the department shall assign a rating of "meets performance standards", "exceeds performance standards" or "fails to comply with performance standards" for the primary service area responder and notify the municipality and primary service area responder of such rating. The [Commissioner of Public Health] commissioner may require any primary service area responder that is assigned a rating of "fails to comply with performance standards" to submit a performance improvement plan, not later than ninety days after being notified of such rating, and meet the [requirements of a performance improvement plan developed by the department] department's requirements for compliance with performance standards. Such primary service area responder may be subject to subsequent performance reviews or removal as the municipality's primary service area responder for a failure to improve performance in accordance with section 19a-181c.