1.1                          A bill for an act 
  1.2             relating to health; authorizing the emergency medical 
  1.3             services regulatory board to grant temporary variances 
  1.4             from staffing requirements for basic life support 
  1.5             ambulances operated by certain ambulance services; 
  1.6             exempting certain rural emergency medical training 
  1.7             programs from certain requirements; amending Minnesota 
  1.8             Statutes 2000, sections 144E.101, subdivision 6; 
  1.9             144E.285, subdivision 2. 
  1.10  BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
  1.11     Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 2000, section 144E.101, 
  1.12  subdivision 6, is amended to read: 
  1.13     Subd. 6.  [BASIC LIFE SUPPORT.] (a) Except as provided in 
  1.14  paragraph (e), a basic life support ambulance shall be staffed 
  1.15  by at least two ambulance service personnel, at least one of 
  1.16  which must be an EMT, who provide a level of care so as to 
  1.17  ensure that: 
  1.18     (1) life-threatening situations and potentially serious 
  1.19  injuries are recognized; 
  1.20     (2) patients are protected from additional hazards; 
  1.21     (3) basic treatment to reduce the seriousness of emergency 
  1.22  situations is administered; and 
  1.23     (4) patients are transported to an appropriate medical 
  1.24  facility for treatment. 
  1.25     (b) A basic life support service shall provide basic airway 
  1.26  management.  
  1.27     (c) By January 1, 2001, a basic life support service shall 
  2.1   provide automatic defibrillation, as provided in section 
  2.2   144E.103, subdivision 1, paragraph (b).  
  2.3      (d) A basic life support service licensee's medical 
  2.4   director may authorize the ambulance service personnel to carry 
  2.5   and to use medical antishock trousers and to perform intravenous 
  2.6   infusion if the ambulance service personnel have been properly 
  2.7   trained. 
  2.8      (e) Upon application from an ambulance service that 
  2.9   includes evidence demonstrating hardship, the board may grant a 
  2.10  temporary variance from the staff requirements in paragraph (a) 
  2.11  and may authorize a basic life support ambulance to be staffed 
  2.12  by one EMT and one first responder.  The variance shall apply to 
  2.13  basic life support ambulances operated by the ambulance service 
  2.14  for up to one year from the date of the variance's issuance.  
  2.15  When a variance expires, an ambulance service may apply for a 
  2.16  new variance under this paragraph.  For purposes of this 
  2.17  paragraph, "ambulance service" means either an ambulance service 
  2.18  whose primary service area is located outside the metropolitan 
  2.19  counties listed in section 473.121, subdivision 4, and outside 
  2.20  the cities of Duluth, Mankato, Moorhead, Rochester, and St. 
  2.21  Cloud; or an ambulance service based in a community with a 
  2.22  population of less than 1,000. 
  2.23     Sec. 2.  Minnesota Statutes 2000, section 144E.285, 
  2.24  subdivision 2, is amended to read: 
  2.25     Subd. 2.  [EMT-P REQUIREMENTS.] (a) In addition to the 
  2.26  requirements under subdivision 1, paragraph (b), a training 
  2.27  program applying for approval to teach EMT-P curriculum must be 
  2.28  administered by an educational institution accredited by the 
  2.29  Commission of Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs 
  2.30  (CAAHEP). 
  2.31     (b) An EMT-P training program that is administered by an 
  2.32  educational institution not accredited by CAAHEP, but that is in 
  2.33  the process of completing the accreditation process, may be 
  2.34  granted provisional approval by the board upon verification of 
  2.35  submission of its self-study report and the appropriate review 
  2.36  fee to CAAHEP. 
  3.1      (c) An educational institution that discontinues its 
  3.2   participation in the accreditation process must notify the board 
  3.3   immediately and provisional approval shall be withdrawn. 
  3.4      (d) This subdivision does not apply to an EMT-P training 
  3.5   program when the program is operated by an advanced life support 
  3.6   ambulance service licensed by the emergency medical services 
  3.7   regulatory board under this chapter, and the ambulance service 
  3.8   meets the following criteria: 
  3.9      (1) covers a rural primary service area that does not 
  3.10  contain a hospital within the primary service area or contains a 
  3.11  hospital within the primary service area that has been 
  3.12  designated as a critical access hospital under section 144.1483, 
  3.13  clause (11); 
  3.14     (2) has tax exempt status in accordance with the Internal 
  3.15  Revenue Code, section 501(c)(3); 
  3.16     (3) received approval before 1991 from the commissioner of 
  3.17  health to operate an EMT-P training program; 
  3.18     (4) operates the EMT-P training program exclusively to 
  3.19  train paramedics for the local ambulance service; and 
  3.20     (5) limits enrollment in the EMT-P training program to five 
  3.21  candidates per biennium.