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 rural ambulance services; 
  1.6             amending Minnesota Statutes 2000, section 144E.101, 
  1.7             subdivision 6. 
  1.8   BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
  1.9      Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 2000, section 144E.101, 
  1.10  subdivision 6, is amended to read: 
  1.11     Subd. 6.  [BASIC LIFE SUPPORT.] (a) Except as provided in 
  1.12  paragraph (e), a basic life support ambulance shall be staffed 
  1.13  by at least two ambulance service personnel, at least one of 
  1.14  which must be an EMT, who provide a level of care so as to 
  1.15  ensure that: 
  1.16     (1) life-threatening situations and potentially serious 
  1.17  injuries are recognized; 
  1.18     (2) patients are protected from additional hazards; 
  1.19     (3) basic treatment to reduce the seriousness of emergency 
  1.20  situations is administered; and 
  1.21     (4) patients are transported to an appropriate medical 
  1.22  facility for treatment. 
  1.23     (b) A basic life support service shall provide basic airway 
  1.24  management.  
  1.25     (c) By January 1, 2001, a basic life support service shall 
  1.26  provide automatic defibrillation, as provided in section 
  2.1   144E.103, subdivision 1, paragraph (b).  
  2.2      (d) A basic life support service licensee's medical 
  2.3   director may authorize the ambulance service personnel to carry 
  2.4   and to use medical antishock trousers and to perform intravenous 
  2.5   infusion if the ambulance service personnel have been properly 
  2.6   trained. 
  2.7      (e) Upon application from a rural ambulance service that 
  2.8   includes evidence demonstrating hardship, the board may grant a 
  2.9   temporary variance from the staff requirements in paragraph (a) 
  2.10  and may authorize a basic life support ambulance to be staffed 
  2.11  by one EMT and one first responder.  The variance shall apply to 
  2.12  basic life support ambulances operated by the rural ambulance 
  2.13  service for up to one year from the date of the variance's 
  2.14  issuance.  When a variance expires, a rural ambulance service 
  2.15  may apply for a new variance under this paragraph.  For purposes 
  2.16  of this paragraph, "rural ambulance service" means an ambulance 
  2.17  service whose primary service area is located outside the 
  2.18  metropolitan counties listed in section 473.121, subdivision 4, 
  2.19  and outside the cities of Duluth, Mankato, Moorhead, Rochester, 
  2.20  and St. Cloud.