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2006 SESSION


CHAPTER 194
An Act to amend and reenact § 32.1-111.4 of the Code of Virginia, relating to the possession and administration of oxygen by emergency medical services personnel.
[H 594]
Approved March 24, 2006

 

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1.  That § 32.1-111.4 of the Code of Virginia is amended and reenacted as follows:

§ 32.1-111.4. Regulations; emergency medical services personnel and vehicles; response times; enforcement provisions; civil penalties.

A. The State Board of Health shall prescribe by regulation:

1. Requirements for record keeping, supplies, operating procedures and other agency operations;

2. Requirements for the sanitation and maintenance of emergency medical services vehicles and their medical supplies and equipment;

3. Procedures, including the requirements for forms, to authorize qualified emergency medical services personnel to follow Do Not Resuscitate Orders pursuant to § 54.1-2987.1;

4. Requirements for the composition, administration, duties and responsibilities of the State Emergency Medical Services Advisory Board;

5. Requirements, developed in consultation with the Emergency Medical Services Advisory Board, governing the training, certification, and recertification of emergency medical services personnel;

6. Requirements for written notification to the State Emergency Medical Services Advisory Board, the State Office of Emergency Medical Services, and the Financial Assistance and Review Committee of the Board's action, and the reasons therefor, on requests and recommendations of the Advisory Board, the State Office of Emergency Medical Services or the Committee, no later than five workdays after reaching its decision, specifying whether the Board has approved, denied, or not acted on such requests and recommendations;

7. Authorization procedures, developed in consultation with the Emergency Medical Services Advisory Board, which allow the possession and administration of epinephrine or a medically accepted equivalent for emergency cases of anaphylactic shock by certain levels of certified emergency medical services personnel as authorized by § 54.1-3408 and authorization procedures that allow the possession and administration of oxygen with the authority of the local medical director and a licensed emergency medical services agency;

8. A uniform definition of "response time" and requirements, developed in consultation with the Emergency Medical Services Advisory Board, for each agency to measure response times starting from the time a call for emergency medical care is received until (i) the time an appropriate emergency medical response unit is responding and (ii) the appropriate emergency medical response unit arrives on the scene, and requirements for agencies to collect and report such data to the Director of the Office of Emergency Medical Services who shall compile such information and make it available to the public, upon request; and

9. Enforcement provisions, including, but not limited to, civil penalties that the Commissioner may assess against any agency or other entity found to be in violation of any of the provisions of this article or any regulation promulgated under this article. All amounts paid as civil penalties for violations of this article or regulations promulgated pursuant thereto shall be paid into the state treasury and shall be deposited in the emergency medical services special fund established pursuant to § 46.2-694, to be used only for emergency medical services purposes.

B. The Board shall classify agencies and emergency medical services vehicles by type of service rendered and shall specify the medical equipment, the supplies, the vehicle specifications and the personnel required for each classification.

C. In formulating its regulations, the Board shall consider the current Minimal Equipment List for Ambulances adopted by the Committee on Trauma of the American College of Surgeons.