Connecticut General Statutes 19a-181b – Local emergency medical services plan
(a) 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 service organizations 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:
Terms Used In Connecticut General Statutes 19a-181b
- Ambulance: means a motor vehicle specifically designed to carry patients. See Connecticut General Statutes 19a-175
- Commissioner: means the Commissioner of Public Health. See Connecticut General Statutes 19a-175
- Emergency medical service organization: means any corporation or organization whether public, private or voluntary that (A) is licensed or certified by the Department of Public Health's Office of Emergency Medical Services, and (B) offers ambulance transportation or treatment services to patients primarily under emergency conditions or a mobile integrated health care program. See Connecticut General Statutes 19a-175
- Municipality: means the legislative body of a municipality or the board of selectmen in the case of a municipality in which the legislative body is a town meeting. See Connecticut General Statutes 19a-175
- Mutual aid call: means a call for emergency medical services that, pursuant to the terms of a written agreement, is responded to by a secondary or alternate emergency medical service organization if the primary or designated emergency medical service organization is unable to respond because such primary or designated emergency medical service organization is responding to another call for emergency medical services or the ambulance or nontransport emergency vehicle operated by such primary or designated emergency medical service organization is out of service. See Connecticut General Statutes 19a-175
- Primary service area: means a specific geographic area to which one designated emergency medical service organization is assigned for each category of emergency medical response services. See Connecticut General Statutes 19a-175
- Primary service area responder: means an emergency medical service organization who is designated to respond to a victim of sudden illness or injury in a primary service area. See Connecticut General Statutes 19a-175
- Sponsor hospital: means a hospital that has agreed to maintain staff for the provision of medical oversight, supervision and direction to an emergency medical service organization and its personnel and has been approved for such activity by the Department of Public Health. See Connecticut General Statutes 19a-175
(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 emergency medical service organization to a call for emergency medical services; (B) the emergency medical service organization 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 service organizations 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 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, each municipality shall review its plan and the primary service area responder‘s provision of services under the plan 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 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 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.