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1997 SESSION


HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 637
Requesting the State Emergency Medical Services Advisory Board to conduct a pilot study relating to prehospital care data.

Agreed to by the House of Delegates, February 4, 1997
Agreed to by the Senate, February 19, 1997

WHEREAS, although the Commonwealth has had, since 1987, a legal mechanism for collecting prehospital patient care data in Article 3.1 (§ 32.1-116.1 et seq.) of Chapter 4 of Title 32.1, this program has never been fully planned and designed; and

WHEREAS, as a result, no system presently exists to tabulate the statewide information on emergency services runs, e.g., response times, transport times, and outcomes or the nature of the calls, and what percentage of the calls are cardiac-related, burn-related, or accident-related; and

WHEREAS, analysis of these data would provide valuable information to measure the response times, transport times, and results of the emergency calls and to take steps to remedy any deficiencies; and

WHEREAS, frequently, treatment during the "golden hour" after the injury or stroke or heart attack makes the difference between recovery and life-long disability or death; and

WHEREAS, data on the EMS system--for example, snapshot information--could demonstrate the need, or lack thereof, to collect and analyze statewide statistics on the delivery of emergency services in order to assess the performance of the EMS system and to plan for the future in terms of policy and funding; and

WHEREAS, snapshot information could also be used to initiate the development of a practical approach to gathering this needed information in order to increase survival rates; and

WHEREAS, the Board of Health is charged with developing a comprehensive EMS system in Virginia and with reducing the time between the identification of an acutely ill or injured patient and the definitive treatment; and

WHEREAS, the State Emergency Medical Services Advisory Board is charged with advising the Board of Health in matters pertaining to the effective implementation of a comprehensive EMS system in the Commonwealth; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, the Senate concurring, That the State Emergency Medical Services Advisory Board be requested to conduct a pilot study relating to prehospital care data. The EMS Advisory Board shall, consistent with any language and funding provided in the appropriation act, implement this pilot study as follows: (i) the EMS Advisory Board shall request no more than 50 emergency services providers, configured by participation of four agencies from each region, to volunteer to provide copies of the prehospital patient care report (PPCR) forms relating to cardiac arrest calls for three months, such months to be determined by the Advisory Board, to a data analysis contractor; (ii) as an encouragement for the local squads to cooperate in this data collection, the Advisory Board shall, with such funds as may be provided for this purpose, offer incentives of $100 to each of the up to fifty rescue squads who volunteer to provide the information; and (iii) the Advisory Board shall contract with Virginia Health Information, Inc., for a fee of no more than $12,000, for tabulation, analysis, and reporting of the data obtained from the PPCR forms.

The State Emergency Medical Services Advisory Board shall complete its work in time to submit its findings and recommendations to the Governor and the 1998 Session of the General Assembly as provided in the procedures of the Division of Legislative Automated Systems for the processing of legislative documents.