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a |
The Director of the Department of Health, in collaboration with EMS stakeholders, shall, no later than December 31, 2007, draft legislation or regulations or other administrative actions to improve oversight of all EMS providers and ambulance companies in the District of Columbia. The Mayor shall present the resulting draft to the DC Council for consideration. The legislation shall include, but not be limited to:
- License and/or certification requirements for EMS provider agencies, vehicles, personnel, and training facilities;
- Requirements for health care institutions, such as assisted care facilities, to provide or procure independent inter-facility transport services for nonemergent needs, and authority for DOH to impose fines and/or penalties for failure to comply;
- Specified levels of education, training, and satisfactory test performance in order to be lawfully assigned to work in an EMS provider capacity;
- Requirements for ongoing professional education and training and periodic recertification testing, both written and practical, administered by independent entities, as a condition for renewal of certification;
- Fair and effective enforcement, including sanctions for unacceptable performance and deliberate malfeasance, and standards and processes for revocation of EMS provider certification and EMS provider entity licensure and certification in appropriate cases;
- Requirements for all EMS provider entities, including the Department, to provide routine reporting on quality of care issues to the Department of Health;
- Authority to re-engineer the protocol revision process to improve the timeliness with which EMS protocols are updated; and
- Authority for DOH to issue fines and penalties to hospitals that fail to accept Department transports and assume care of patients within a specified period of time pursuant to the procedures established through recommendation 5 (f).
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The “EMS Act of 2008” was introduced on January 22, 2008 by Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray on behalf of Mayor Adrian M. Fenty. The legislation was enacted by the Committee of the Whole on January 16, 2009
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b |
DOH shall immediately adopt the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration standards for EMS certification at all levels of training and as the minimum standard for the District of Columbia. Whenever possible, accreditation by nationally recognized bodies shall be adopted to establish testing and certification requirements. |
In cooperation with the DC Department of Health, the DC Fire & EMS Department moved immediately to adopt the intent of this policy by utilizing the National Registry of EMTs, an independent national certification agency, to test all new and recertifying EMS providers in the Department. The DC Department of Health has now adopted the National Registry as the certification and recertification process for all District-certified EMS providers, effective July 1, 2009. |
