SLS 22RS-2284 ORIGINAL
2022 Regular Session
SENATE CONCURRENT RESOL UTION NO. 39
BY SENATOR ALLAIN
HEALTH DEPARTMENT. Requests the Louisiana Department of Health to study and
develop a proposal for a statewide patient movement plan.
1 A CONCURRENT RESOL UTION
2 To urge and request the Louisiana Department of Health to study and develop a proposal for
3 a statewide patient movement plan that identifies load-balancing practices for use
4 during declared disasters, and to submit a report to the House and Senate committees
5 on health and welfare and the House and Senate select committees on homeland
6 security.
7 WHEREAS, the Louisiana Department of Health is the lead agency for our state's
8 public health and medical services emergency support function during disaster and
9 emergency periods, commonly known and classified by the state emergency operations plan
10 17 as ESF-8; and
11 WHEREAS, it is appropriate for the Louisiana Department of Health to lead the
12 development of a statewide patient movement plan that identifies load-balancing practices
13 that can be utilized in the immediate response to a declared disaster; and
14 WHEREAS, hospitals are an indispensable part of our state's emergency response
15 infrastructure and it is in the best interest of the state to ensure that all hospital resources and
16 capacity in the state are effectively optimized during the response to a declared emergency
17 to address surges in demand for hospital care, whether from a pandemic or a natural disaster;
18 and
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1 WHEREAS, hospital load-balancing practices may involve prehospital distribution
2 of patients among area healthcare facilities, transferring patients from overwhelmed
3 healthcare facilities to ones with more capacity, including but not limited to space, staffing,
4 and equipment, or moving resources to support an overwhelmed facility; and
5 WHEREAS, through the use of hospital load-balancing practices across healthcare
6 facilities and systems, the state can help ensure that the highest possible level of care is
7 provided to each patient during a response to a declared disaster.
8 THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby
9 urge and request the Louisiana Department of Health to study and develop a proposal for a
10 statewide patient movement plan that identifies load-balancing practices for use during
11 declared disasters, and to submit a report to the House and Senate committees on health and
12 welfare and the House and Senate select committees on homeland security.
13 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that, in conducting the study and developing the
14 statewide patient movement plan, the Louisiana Department of Health shall work in
15 conjunction with all relevant stakeholders, including but not limited to the following:
16 (1) The Louisiana Emergency Response Network.
17 (2) The bureau of emergency medical services.
18 (3) The Governor's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness.
19 (4) The Rural Hospital Coalition.
20 (5) The Louisiana Hospital Association.
21 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the statewide patient movement plan shall
22 provide for the following key functions:
23 (1) Convening hospitals for the sharing of situational information, including current
24 contingency measures and potential need for load-balancing, and for the negotiation of
25 load-balancing.
26 (2) Establishment of a one-call referral line to achieve rapid placement of patients
27 needing critical care, particularly when the referring hospital does not provide the required
28 services, including but not limited to emergency dialysis, multi-organ failure support, and
29 management of acute respiratory distress syndrome.
30 (3) Directing secondary referrals to the most appropriate hospital with consideration
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1 given to the proximity of the patient to the hospital and facilities with capacity or the most
2 appropriate facility for the patient's care given the patient's condition.
3 (4) Establishment of and continued support for a clinical consultant charged with
4 assisting in the development of policy and to oversee medical aspects of the operation by
5 using patients' medical information to help prioritize and determine which destinations are
6 most appropriate.
7 (5) Establishment and maintenance of the ability to provide consultation with
8 specialty medical providers when required to help prioritize a patient for transfer or receive
9 instructions for care-in-place when this is required for a period of time.
10 (6) Provisions for appropriate management of load-balancing between overwhelmed
11 facilities and those with more overall capacity.
12 (7) Addressing how transportation, whether by emergency medical services or
13 otherwise, will be integrated into the transfer decision-making process, particularly in
14 situations where specialized transportation may be needed or there may be competition for
15 critical care ground or air assets that requires prioritization between patients. This integration
16 includes ensuring that transportation providers receive appropriate reimbursement for the
17 ambulance and staff time spent on transfers through all available funding sources including
18 state emergency funding, activation of ambulance strike teams, or use of ambulances through
19 the federal ambulance contract, and requiring payors to provide reimbursement for these
20 services when conditions indicate a benefit to the patient from transfer due to surge
21 conditions at the facility of origin.
22 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Louisiana Department of Health shall submit
23 the proposal for a statewide patient movement plan to the House and Senate committees on
24 health and welfare, the House and Senate select committees on homeland security and the
25 David R. Poynter Legislative Research Library no later than sixty days prior to the 2023
26 Regular Legislative Session.
27 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to the
28 secretary of the Louisiana Department of Health.
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The original instrument and the following digest, which constitutes no part
of the legislative instrument, were prepared by Brandi Cannon.
DIGEST
SCR 39 Original 2022 Regular Session Allain
Requests the La. Dept. of Health to study and develop a proposal for a statewide patient
movement plan that identifies load-balancing practices for use during declared disasters.
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