BILL ANALYSIS
By: McReynolds
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
The 79th Texas Legislature approved and funded an Emergency Medical Dispatch (EMD) pilot program to use emergency medical dispatchers located in regional dispatch centers to provide pre-arrival medical advice to 911 callers in rural Texas. This type of assistance is vital to positive outcomes for those in emergency situations where help may be a considerable time and/or distance away. For instance, in a rural area when an emergency occurs, pre-arrival instructions might be used immediately before the 20 to 45 minute delay necessary before transportation arrives. Pre-arrival instructions have proven critical to life-safety issues and good patient outcomes.
Due to the success of the pilot program, this bill would allow expansion of the program to other areas of the state.
RULEMAKING AUTHORITY
It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution.
ANALYSIS
House Bill 1412 establishes the Emergency Medical Dispatch Resource Centers (center) Program, which is a permanent program, and deletes references to the pilot program that tested the efficacy of using certain emergency medical dispatchers to provide life-saving and other emergency medical instructions under certain circumstances. The bill provides that money in other state funds, in addition to money in the 9-1-1 services fee fund, may be appropriated to the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston on behalf of the center to fund the program. The bill deletes the end date of 2009 in the reporting requirements provision, and repeals the Sunset date of the pilot program.
EFFECTIVE DATE
September 1, 2007.