Highlights of the 79th Texas Legislature - Senate

STATE AFFAIRS/GENERAL
Establishes that a provider qualifies as a basic life-support EMS provider if it provides a vehicle that is designed for
transporting the sick or injured, has personnel and sufficient equipment and supplies for providing basic life support,
and is capable of providing emergency and nonemergency transportation.
Requires an EMS provider, in addition to any other qualifications that an EMS provider must possess to obtain the
type of license sought, to possess the qualifications required for a basic emergency medical services provider.
Regional Emergency Medical Dispatch Resource Center Pilot─S.B. 523
By Senators Deuell and Van de Putte—House Sponsor: Representative McReynolds
Both the 77th Texas Legislature, 2001, and the 78th Texas Legislature, 2003, authorized a pilot program to test the
efficacy of using emergency medical dispatchers located in a regional dispatch resource center to provide certain
instructions to 911 callers in certain parts of rural Texas. Appropriated funding was not certified by the comptroller of
public accounts in 2001 and while funding was appropriated and certified last session, the pilot program has not yet
been implemented. This bill:
Defines "center" as the area health education center at The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston.
Requires the center, rather than the Texas Department of Health (TDH), to establish a regional emergency medical
dispatch resource center pilot program.
Authorizes the center, with the assistance of the emergency medical services advisory council, to select public safety
answering points to participate in the pilot program or to serve as regional emergency medical dispatch resource
centers.
Authorizes a public safety answering point to participate in the pilot program and serve as a regional emergency
medical dispatch resource center.
Requires a public safety answering point selected for the pilot program or to serve as a resource center to: have a
fully functional quality assurance program that measures each emergency medical dispatcher’s compliance with the
medical protocol; have dispatch personnel who meet the requirements for emergency medical dispatcher
certification or the equivalent as determined by the Texas Department of State Health Services; use emergency
medical dispatch protocols approved by a physician medical director knowledgeable in emergency medical dispatch;
have sufficient experience in providing pre-arrival instructions; and have sufficient resources to handle the additional
workload and responsibilities of the pilot program.
Requires the center, in selecting an existing public safety answering point to act as a resource center, to consider a
public safety answering point’s ability to keep records and produce reports to measure the effectiveness of the pilot
program. Requires the center to share information regarding a public safety answering point’s abilities with the
advisory council.
Requires the center, with the assistance of the advisory council, to define criteria that establish the need for
emergency medical dispatch intervention to be used by participating public safety answering points to determine
which calls are to be transferred to the regional emergency medical dispatch resource center for emergency medical
dispatch intervention.
Authorizes money in the 9-1-1 services fee fund to be appropriated to The University of Texas Medical Branch at
Galveston on behalf of the center to fund the pilot program.
HIGHLIGHTS - 79 TH TEXAS LEGISLATURE 227