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92_HB0279
LRB9203773LDpr
1 AN ACT concerning emergency medical dispatches.
2 Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
3 represented in the General Assembly:
4 Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the
5 Emergency Medical Dispatch Act.
6 Section 5. Findings of the Legislature.
7 The American Heart Association, the National Institutes
8 of Health, the EMS for Children Program of the Health
9 Resources and Services Administration of United States
10 Department of Health and Human Services, the National
11 Association of EMS Physicians, the National Association of
12 State EMS Directors, and the American College of Emergency
13 Physicians have each identified that emergency medical
14 dispatch is a critical component of an emergency medical
15 services system.
16 The ASTM F-30 Committee on Emergency Medical Services has
17 published the Standard Practice for Emergency Medical
18 Dispatch (F 1258), the Standard Practice for Training
19 Instructor Qualification and Certification Eligibility of
20 Emergency Medical Dispatchers (F 1552), and Standard for
21 Practice Emergency Medical Dispatch Management (F 1560).
22 The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration of the
23 United States Department of Transportation has published the
24 National Standard Curriculum for Emergency Medical Dispatch.
25 The Legislature finds that modern emergency medical
26 dispatch is a key component of an emergency medical services
27 system and declares that it is the intent of this legislation
28 to provide the State with systems for emergency medical
29 dispatch by establishing within the Department of Public
30 Health the authority for the coordination and integration of
31 all activities within the State concerning the dispatch of
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1 emergency medical services and the regulation of emergency
2 medical services dispatch systems.
3 Section 10. Definitions. As used in this Act:
4 "Advanced life support provider" means a person that has
5 been licensed or certified as an EMT-Intermediate,
6 EMT-Paramedic, registered nurse, or licensed physician in any
7 state.
8 "Emergency medical dispatcher (EMD)" means a trained
9 public safety telecommunicator with additional specialized
10 training and specific emergency medical dispatch protocol
11 knowledge essential for the efficient management of emergency
12 medical call-taking and dispatch communications and certified
13 in accordance with this Act.
14 "Emergency medical dispatching" means the reception,
15 evaluation, processing, and provision of dispatch life
16 support, management of requests for emergency medical
17 assistance, and participation in ongoing evaluation and
18 improvement of the emergency medical dispatch process.
19 "Emergency medical dispatch agency" means any dispatch
20 center that (i) receives and processes calls requesting
21 emergency medical assistance, provides dispatch life support,
22 or dispatches emergency medical services resources and (ii)
23 is certified in accordance with this Act.
24 "Department" means the Department of Public Health.
25 "Dispatch life support (DLS)" means the knowledge,
26 procedures, and skills used by trained EMDs in providing care
27 and advice through pre-arrival instructions and post-dispatch
28 instructions to callers requesting emergency medical
29 assistance.
30 "Pre-arrival instructions" means telephone-rendered,
31 medically approved, scripted instructions given by certified
32 EMDs to callers that provide necessary assistance and control
33 of a situation prior to arrival of emergency medical services
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1 personnel. Pre-arrival instructions are read word for word by
2 the EMD to the fullest extent possible.
3 "Post-dispatch instructions" means case-specific advice,
4 warnings, and treatments relayed by trained EMDs through
5 callers after dispatching field responders.
6 "Emergency medical dispatch priority reference system
7 (EMDPRS)" means a medically approved system that includes the
8 protocol used by an emergency medical dispatcher in an
9 emergency medical dispatch agency to dispatch aid to medical
10 emergencies that includes systematized caller interrogation
11 questions, systematized dispatch life support instructions,
12 and systematized coding protocols that match the dispatcher's
13 evaluation of the injury or illness severity with the vehicle
14 response mode and vehicle response configuration, and
15 includes an appropriate training curriculum and testing
16 process consistent with the specific EMDPRS protocol used by
17 the emergency medical dispatch agency.
18 "Vehicle response mode" means the use of emergency
19 driving techniques such as warning lights-and-siren or
20 routine driving response.
21 "Vehicle response configuration" means the specific
22 vehicles of varied types, capabilities, and numbers
23 responding to render assistance.
24 "Medical direction" means the management and
25 accountability for the medical care aspects of an emergency
26 medical dispatch agency, including the medical monitoring
27 oversight of the training of EMD personnel; approval and
28 medical control of the operational emergency medical dispatch
29 priority reference system (EMDPRS); evaluation of medical
30 care and prearrival instructions rendered by EMD personnel;
31 direct participation in EMD system evaluation, quality
32 assurance, and quality improvement process and mechanisms;
33 and responsibility for the medical decisions and care
34 rendered by an emergency medical dispatcher and emergency
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1 medical dispatch agency.
2 "Medical director" means a licensed physician approved by
3 the Department who provides medical direction to an emergency
4 medical dispatch agency.
5 "Continuing dispatcher education" means educational
6 experiences in accordance with standards set forth in ASTM F
7 1560 Standard Practice for Emergency Medical Dispatch,
8 Section 13 Continuing Dispatcher Education.
9 "Compliance to protocol" means the adherence to the
10 written text or scripts and other processes within the
11 approved EMDPRS, except a deviation from the text or script
12 that occurs only for the express purpose of clarifying the
13 meaning or intent of a question or facilitating the clear
14 understanding of a required action, instruction, or response
15 from a caller.
16 Section 15. Certificate required.
17 (a) A person may not represent himself or herself nor
18 may an agency or business represent an agent or employee of
19 that agency or business as an emergency medical dispatcher
20 unless the person so represented is certified by the
21 Department as an emergency medical dispatcher.
22 (b) A person, organization, or government agency may not
23 represent itself as an emergency medical dispatch agency
24 unless the person, organization, or government agency is
25 certified by the Department as an emergency medical dispatch
26 agency.
27 (c) A person, organization, or government agency may not
28 offer or conduct a training course that is represented as a
29 course for an emergency medical dispatcher unless the person,
30 organization, or agency is approved by the Department to
31 offer or conduct that course.
32 Section 20. Issuance of certificates.
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1 (a) The Department shall prescribe by rule the
2 requirements that are prerequisite to the issuance of
3 certificates that provide for the following:
4 (1) certification and recertification of a person
5 who meets the training and other requirements as an
6 emergency medical dispatcher;
7 (2) certification and recertification that a
8 person, organization, or government agency that operates
9 an emergency medical dispatch agency meets the minimum
10 standards prescribed by the Department for an emergency
11 medical dispatch agency.
12 (b) Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, the
13 Department shall grant certification or recertification
14 without further examination to any person with a current
15 certification from the National Academy of Emergency Medical
16 Dispatch.
17 (c) Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, the
18 Department shall grant certification or recertification to
19 any emergency medical dispatch agency that is accredited by
20 the National Academy of Emergency Medical Dispatch.
21 Section 25. Minimum standards.
22 (a) The Department shall prescribe by rule the training
23 and other requirements for certification of emergency medical
24 dispatchers in accordance with the following minimum
25 standards:
26 (1) An emergency medical dispatcher shall be
27 trained in a Department-approved emergency medical
28 dispatch training program.
29 (2) Department-approved emergency medical dispatch
30 training programs shall be conducted in accordance with
31 ASTM F1258 Standard Practice for Emergency Medical
32 Dispatch, ASTM F 1552 Standard Practice for Training
33 Instructor Qualifications and Certification Eligibility
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1 of Emergency Medical Dispatchers, ASTM F 1560 Standard
2 Practice for Emergency Medical Dispatch Management; and
3 the National Institutes of Health recommendations for
4 emergency medical dispatcher training and shall include a
5 written examination approved by the Department that tests
6 for competency the specific EMDPRS taught in the training
7 program.
8 (3) Department-approved emergency medical
9 dispatcher training programs shall be conducted by
10 instructors that either (A) (i) are certified as an
11 emergency medical dispatchers, (ii) are currently or were
12 formerly licensed or certified as advanced life support
13 providers, (iii) have completed a methods of instruction
14 course, (iv) have previous experience in a medical
15 dispatch agency, and (v) have demonstrated experience as
16 EMS instructors; or (B) by instructors who are certified
17 as EMD Instructors by the National Academy of Emergency
18 Medical Dispatch.
19 (4) Certification of emergency medical dispatchers
20 shall be based on successful completion of a
21 Department-approved emergency medical dispatcher course.
22 (5) Recertification of emergency medical
23 dispatchers shall be based on the accumulation of at
24 least 12 hours of continuing dispatcher education for
25 each year of the certification period.
26 The Department may establish additional qualifications
27 for certification and recertification as it deems necessary,
28 except that no statewide written examination may be required
29 if the Department approves the use of different EMDPRS by
30 emergency medical dispatch agencies.
31 (b) The Department shall prescribe by rule the
32 requirements for certification of an emergency medical
33 dispatch agency. At a minimum, an emergency medical dispatch
34 agency must be operated in accordance with ASTM F 1560
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1 Standard Practice for Emergency Medical Dispatch Management,
2 including but not limited to:
3 (1) the use on every request for medical assistance
4 of an emergency medical dispatch priority reference
5 system (EMDPRS);
6 (2) under the approval and supervision of the
7 medical director, the establishment of a continuous
8 quality improvement program that measures compliance to
9 protocol through ongoing random case review for each EMD
10 and provides feedback to the individuals and management
11 of the EMS agency regarding the level of compliance; and
12 (3) the appointment of a dispatch medical director
13 to review and approve the EMDPRS, the EMD training
14 program, and the medical aspects of the operation of the
15 emergency medical dispatch agency.
16 The agency shall have and use the most current version of
17 the Department-approved EMDPRS selected for use by the
18 agency.
19 Section 30. Authority of Department. The Department
20 shall have the authority and responsibility to:
21 (1) require emergency medical dispatchers to comply with
22 the protocols for pre-arrival instructions to callers
23 established by the EMS Medical Director and the emergency
24 medical dispatch agency;
25 (2) require each emergency medical dispatcher to keep
26 the Department informed as to the entity or agency that
27 employs or supervises his or her activities as an emergency
28 medical dispatcher;
29 (3) approve all EMDPRS protocols used by emergency
30 medical dispatch agencies to assure compliance with ASTM F
31 1258 Standard Practice for Emergency Medical Dispatch; and
32 (4) require emergency medical dispatchers, emergency
33 medical dispatch agencies, and the National Academy of
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1 Emergency Medical Dispatch to report to the Department
2 whenever an action has taken place that may require the
3 revocation or suspension of a certificate issued by the
4 Department.