Section 250.725  Notification of Emergency Personnel

a)         For purposes of this Section:

1)         "Emergency Services Provider Agency" means any entity which used vehicles, personnel and equipment for the prehospital or interhospital transportation and care of patients requiring emergency care of life support services in conformance with the provisions of the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Systems Act (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1987, ch. 111½, pars. 5501 et seq., as amended ).

2)         "Paramedic" means an emergency medical technician-paramedic certified by the Department pursuant to Section 4.13 of the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Systems Act (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1987, ch. 111½, par. 5504.13, as amended ).

3)         "Ambulance Personnel" means any person employed by an emergency services provider agency who is or was involved in the prehospital or interhospital transportation and care of a patient requiring emergency care or life support services as an ambulance crew member, including the vehicle driver.

b)         Each hospital shall establish procedures for notifying police officers, paramedics and ambulance personnel who have provided, or are about to provide, emergency care or life support services to a patient who has been diagnosed as having a dangerous communicable or infectious disease. The procedures shall include at a minimum the requirements of this Section.

c)         Notification shall be required for the following diseases:

1)         Rubella (including congenital rubella syndrome)

2)         Measles

3)         Tuberculosis

4)         Invasive meningococcal infections (meningitis or meningococcemia)

5)         Mumps

6)         Chickenpox

7)         Herpes Simplex

8)         Diphtheria

9)         Rabies (human rabies)

10)         Anthrax

11)         Cholera

12)         Plague

13)         Polio (Poliomyelitis)

14)         Hepatitis B

15)         Typhus (louse-borne)

16)         Smallpox

17)         Hepatitis non-A, non-B

18)         Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS)

19)         AIDS-related complex (ARC)

20)         Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) Infection

d)         The hospital shall send a letter notification to the emergency services provider agency within 72 hours after the hospital receives actual knowledge of a confirmed diagnosis of any of the diseases listed in subsection (c) of this Section, other than AIDS, ARC or HIC infection, of any patient who has been transported to the hospital by police officers, paramedics or ambulance personnel.

e)         In the case of a confirmed diagnosis of AIDS, ARC, or HIV infection, the hospital shall send a letter of notification to the emergency services provider agency within 72 hours only if one or both of the following conditions exist:

1)         The police officers, paramedics or ambulance personnel have indicated on the ambulance run sheet that a reasonable possibility exists that they have had blood or body fluid contact with the patient.

2)         The hospital has reason to know of a possible exposure of the police officers, paramedics or ambulance personnel to the blood or body fluids of the patient.

f)         Letters of notification shall be sent to the designated contact at the emergency services provider agency listed on the ambulance run sheet and shall include at least the following information. Such notification letters shall not include the name of the patient or any patient-identifying information.

1)         The names of the police officers, paramedics, ambulance personnel, and other crew members listed on the ambulance run sheet,

2)         The patient's diagnosed disease,

3)         The date the patient was transported,

4)         A statement that this information shall be maintained as a confidential medical record (See 77 Ill. Adm. Code 697.140), and

5)         A statement that upon receipt of the notification letter, the provider agency shall contact all personnel involved in the prehospital or interhospital care and transport of the patient.

g)         Upon discharge of a patient with a communicable disease listed in subsection (c) of this Section or below to ambulance personnel, the hospital shall notify the ambulance personnel of appropriate precautions against the communicable disease, but shall not identify the name of the disease.

1)         Typhoid fever

2)         Amebiasis

3)         Shigellosis

4)         Salmonellosis

5)         Giardiasis

6)         Hepatitis A

h)         The hospital may take any additional measures which it considers necessary or useful to notify police officers, paramedics or ambulance personnel of possible exposure to any communicable disease. However, such measures shall not violate the confidentiality of the medical record of the patient, or conflict with the provisions of this Section. (Section 6.08 of the Act)

(Source:  Amended at 15 Ill. Reg. 5328, effective May 1, 1991)