Bill Text: TX HB479 | 2015-2016 | 84th Legislature | Comm Sub

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Relating to the transfer of the regional emergency medical dispatch resource centers program to the Commission on State Emergency Communications and a pilot project to provide emergency telemedicine medical services in rural areas.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 4-0)

Status: (Passed) 2015-06-15 - Effective on 9/1/15 [HB479 Detail]

Download: Texas-2015-HB479-Comm_Sub.html

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84R3205 JSC-D
By: Bell, Metcalf H.B. No. 479

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to transfer of the regional emergency medical dispatch
resource centers program to the Commission on State Emergency
Communications.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Sections 771.102(a) and (c), Health and Safety
Code, are amended to read as follows:
(a) The commission [center], with the assistance of the
advisory council appointed under Section 773.012, shall administer
the program in which [establish a program to use] emergency medical
dispatchers located in regional emergency medical dispatch
resource centers are used to provide life-saving and other
emergency medical instructions to persons who need guidance while
awaiting the arrival of emergency medical personnel. The purpose
of a regional emergency medical dispatch resource center is not to
dispatch personnel or equipment resources but to serve as a
resource to provide pre-arrival instructions that may be accessed
by selected public safety answering points that are not adequately
staffed or funded to provide those services.
(c) The commission [center], with the assistance of the
advisory council, shall:
(1) design criteria and protocols and provide
oversight as needed to conduct the program;
(2) collect the necessary data to evaluate the
program; and
(3) report its findings to the legislature.
SECTION 2. Sections 771.103, 771.104, and 771.105, Health
and Safety Code, are amended to read as follows:
Sec. 771.103. PARTICIPATION IN PROGRAM. (a) The
commission [center] shall determine which public safety answering
points are interested in participating in the program.
(b) Participating public safety answering points must agree
to participate in any required training and to provide regular
reports required by the commission [center] for the program.
Sec. 771.104. SELECTION OF PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS AND
REGIONAL EMERGENCY MEDICAL DISPATCH RESOURCE CENTERS. (a) The
commission [center], with the assistance of the advisory council,
may select public safety answering points to participate in the
program or to serve as regional emergency medical dispatch resource
centers. A public safety answering point may participate in the
program and serve as a regional emergency medical dispatch resource
center. A public safety answering point selected for the program or
to serve as a resource center must:
(1) have a fully functional quality assurance program
that measures each emergency medical dispatcher's compliance with
the medical protocol;
(2) have dispatch personnel who meet the requirements
for emergency medical dispatcher certification or the equivalent as
determined by the Department of State Health Services;
(3) use emergency medical dispatch protocols approved
by a physician medical director knowledgeable in emergency medical
dispatch;
(4) have sufficient experience in providing
pre-arrival instructions; and
(5) have sufficient resources to handle the additional
workload and responsibilities of the program.
(b) In selecting an existing public safety answering point
to act as a resource center, the commission [center] shall consider
a public safety answering point's ability to keep records and
produce reports to measure the effectiveness of the program. The
commission [center] shall share information regarding a public
safety answering point's abilities with the advisory council.
Sec. 771.105. CRITERIA FOR EMERGENCY MEDICAL DISPATCH
INTERVENTION. The commission [center], with the assistance of the
advisory council, shall 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.
SECTION 3. Sections 771.106(a), (b), and (d), Health and
Safety Code, are amended to read as follows:
(a) State [Money in the 9-1-1 services fee fund and other
state] funds may be appropriated to [The University of Texas
Medical Branch at Galveston on behalf of] the commission [center]
to fund the program.
(b) The commission may [University of Texas Medical Branch
at Galveston on behalf of the center and the center are also
authorized to] seek grant funding for the program.
(d) The provisions in this subchapter that require the
commission [center] to [establish,] conduct[,] and evaluate the
program are contingent on the commission [center] receiving funding
in accordance with this section. If a sufficient number of
political subdivisions in a region that could be served by a program
offer to pay the commission [center] an amount that in the
aggregate, together with any other funding received under this
section, is sufficient to fund the program for the region, [The
University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, on behalf of] the
commission [center]:
(1) shall enter into contracts with the offering
political subdivisions under which each will pay an appropriate
share of the cost; and
(2) when the amount under the signed contracts,
together with any other funding received under this section, is
sufficient to fund the program for the region, shall implement the
program for the region.
SECTION 4. Section 771.107, Health and Safety Code, is
amended to read as follows:
Sec. 771.107. REPORT TO LEGISLATURE. The commission
[center] shall biennially report its findings to the governor, the
presiding officer of each house of the legislature, and the
advisory council no later than January 1 of each odd-numbered year.
SECTION 5. Section 771.109(a), Health and Safety Code, is
amended to read as follows:
(a) The commission [center] may appoint a program work group
to assist the commission [center] in [developing,] implementing[,]
and evaluating the program and preparing a report on the
commission's [center's] findings.
SECTION 6. Sections 771.101 and 771.102(b), Health and
Safety Code, are repealed.
SECTION 7. (a) In this section:
(1) "Center" means the area health education center at
The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston that meets the
requirements of 42 U.S.C. Section 294a and has received federal
funding as an area health education center.
(2) "Program" means the regional emergency medical
dispatch resource centers program established under Subchapter E,
Chapter 771, Health and Safety Code, as that subchapter existed
before amendment by this Act.
(b) On the effective date of this Act, the administration of
the program is transferred from the center to the Commission on
State Emergency Communications and all unspent and unobligated
funds appropriated by the legislature to The University of Texas
Medical Branch at Galveston on behalf of the center to fund the
program are transferred to the commission.
(c) The Commission on State Emergency Communications with
the agreement of the center may accept the transfer of any records,
employees, or real or personal property of the center relating to
the operation of the program.
SECTION 8. This Act takes effect September 1, 2015.