§ 19a-175 — (Formerly Sec. 19-73u). Definitions.

Connecticut § 19a-175

• Jurisdiction: Connecticut
• Title 19a: Public Health and Well-Being
• Ch. 368d: Emergency Medical Services

Text

As used in this chapter and section 19a-906, unless the context otherwise requires: (1) “Emergency medical service system” means a system which provides for (A) the arrangement of personnel, facilities and equipment for the efficient, effective and coordinated delivery of health care services under emergency conditions, and (B) mobile integrated health care; (2) “Patient” means an injured or ill person or a person with a physical disability requiring assistance and transportation; (3) “Ambulance” means a motor vehicle specifically designed to carry patients; (4) “Ambulance service” means an organization which transports patients; (5) “Emergency medical technician” means a person who is certified pursuant to chapter 384d; (6) “Emergency medical services instructor” means a person who is certified pursuant to chapter 384d; (7) “Communications facility” means any facility housing the personnel and equipment for handling the emergency communications needs of a particular geographic area; (8) “Life saving equipment” means equipment used by emergency medical personnel for the stabilization and treatment of patients; (9) “Emergency medical service organization” means any corporation or organization whether public, private or voluntary that (A) is licensed or certified by the Department of Public Health's Office of Emergency Medical Services, and (B) offers ambulance transportation or treatment services to patients primarily under emergency conditions or a mobile integrated health care program; (10) “Invalid coach” means a vehicle used exclusively for the transportation of nonambulatory patients, who are not confined to stretchers, to or from either a medical facility or the patient's home in nonemergency situations or utilized in emergency situations as a backup vehicle when insufficient emergency vehicles exist; (11) “Rescue service” means any organization, whether for-profit or nonprofit, whose primary purpose is to search for persons who have become lost or to render emergency service to persons who are in dangerous or perilous circumstances; (12) “Commissioner” means the Commissioner of Public Health; (13) “Paramedic” means a person licensed pursuant to chapter 384d; (14) “Commercial ambulance service” means an ambulance service which primarily operates for profit; (15) “Licensed ambulance service” means a commercial ambulance service or a volunteer or municipal ambulance service issued a license by the commissioner; (16) “Certified ambulance service” means a municipal, volunteer or nonprofit ambulance service issued a certificate by the commissioner; (17) “Automatic external defibrillator” means a device that: (A) Is used to administer an electric shock through the chest wall to the heart; (B) contains internal decision-making electronics, microcomputers or special software that allows it to interpret physiologic signals, make medical diagnosis and, if necessary, apply therapy; (C) guides the user through the process of using the device by audible or visual prompts; and (D) does not require the user to employ any discretion or judgment in its use; (18) “Mutual aid call” means a call for emergency medical services that, pursuant to the terms of a written agreement, is responded to by a secondary or alternate emergency medical service organization if the primary or designated emergency medical service organization is unable to respond because such primary or designated emergency medical service organization is responding to another call for emergency medical services or the ambulance or nontransport emergency vehicle operated by such primary or designated emergency medical service organization is out of service. For purposes of this subdivision, “nontransport emergency vehicle” means a vehicle used by emergency medical technicians or paramedics in responding to emergency calls that is not used to carry patients; (19) “Municipality” means the legislative body of a municipality or the board of selectmen in the case of a municipality in which the legislative body is a town meeting; (20) “Primary service area” means a specific geographic area to which one designated emergency medical service organization is assigned for each category of emergency medical response services; (21) “Primary service area responder” means an emergency medical service organization who is designated to respond to a victim of sudden illness or injury in a primary service area; (22) “Interfacility critical care transport” means the interfacility transport of a patient between licensed health care institutions; (23) “Advanced emergency medical technician” means an individual who is certified as an advanced emergency medical technician pursuant to chapter 384d; (24) “Emergency medical responder” means an individual who is certified pursuant to chapter 384d; (25) “Medical oversight” means the active surveillance by physicians of the provision of emergency medical services sufficient for the assessment of overall emergency medical service practice levels, as defined by state-wide protocols; (26) “Office of Emergency Medical Services” means the office established within the Department of Public Health pursuant to section 19a-178 ; (27) “Sponsor hospital” means a hospital that has agreed to maintain staff for the provision of medical oversight, supervision and direction to an emergency medical service organization and its personnel and has been approved for such activity by the Department of Public Health; (28) “Paramedic intercept service” means paramedic treatment services provided by an entity that does not provide the ground ambulance transport; (29) “Authorized emergency medical services vehicle” means an ambulance, invalid coach or advanced emergency technician-staffed intercept vehicle or a paramedic-staffed intercept vehicle licensed or certified by the Department of Public Health for purposes of providing emergency medical care to patients; (30) “Emergency medical services personnel” means an individual certified to practice as an emergency medical responder, emergency medical technician, advanced emergency medical technician, emergency medical services instructor or an individual licensed as a paramedic; (31) “Mobile integrated health care program” means a program approved by the commissioner in which a licensed or certified ambulance service or paramedic intercept service provides services, including clinically appropriate medical evaluations, treatment, transport or referrals to other health care providers under nonemergency conditions by a paramedic acting within the scope of his or her practice as part of an emergency medical services organization within the emergency medical services system; and (32) “Alternate destination” means a destination other than an emergency department that is a medically appropriate facility.

Legislative History

(P.A. 74-305, S. 1, 19; P.A. 75-112, S. 1, 18; P.A. 77-268, S. 1; 77-349, S. 1; 77-614, S. 323, 587, 610; P.A. 78-303, S. 85, 136; P.A. 81-259, S. 1, 3; P.A. 87-79; 87-420, S. 2, 14; P.A. 90-172, S. 1; P.A. 93-381, S. 9, 39; P.A. 95-257, S. 12, 21, 58; P.A. 96-180, S. 56, 166; P.A. 97-311, S. 15; P.A. 98-62, S. 2; 98-195, S. 3; P.A. 00-151, S. 1, 14; P.A. 06-195, S. 34; P.A. 09-16, S. 2; P.A. 10-18, S. 6; 10-117, S. 24; P.A. 14-231, S. 16; P.A. 15-109, S. 5; 15-223, S. 3; 15-242, S. 11; P.A. 17-202, S. 70; P.A. 19-118, S. 46, 64; P.A. 21-121, S. 90.) History: P.A. 75-112 deleted Subdiv. (f) defining “commission”, relettering remaining Subsecs. accordingly, added Subdiv. (o) defining “commissioner” and substituted commissioner of health for commission on hospitals and health care where necessary; P.A. 77-268 defined “health systems agency” rather than “comprehensive health planning agency” in Subdiv. (b); P.A. 77-349 added Subdiv. (p) defining “paramedic”; P.A. 77-614 and P.A. 78-303 replaced commissioner and department of health with commissioner and department of health services, effective January 1, 1979; P.A. 81-259 added Subdivs. (q) to (s) defining “commercial ambulance service”, “licensed ambulance service” and “certified ambulance service”; Sec. 19-73u transferred to Sec. 19a-175 in 1983; P.A. 87-79 redefined “invalid coach” to specify applicability re transportation of nonambulatory patients not confined to stretchers; P.A. 87-420 deleted Subdiv. (b) defining “health systems agency”, relettering remaining Subdivs. accordingly; P.A. 90-172 added the definition of “management service”; P.A. 93-381 replaced department and commissioner of health services with department and commissioner of public health and addiction services, effective July 1, 1993; P.A. 95-257 replaced Commissioner and Department of Public Health and Addiction Services with Commissioner and Department of Public Health, effective July 1, 1995; P.A. 96-180 replaced alphabetic Subdiv. indicators with numeric indicators, effective June 3, 1996; P.A. 97-311 redefined “paramedic”; P.A. 98-62 added Subdiv. (20) defining “automatic external defibrillator”; P.A. 98-195 amended Subdiv. (14) by deleting “acting through the Office of Emergency Medical Services” and amended Subdivs. (17) and (18), replacing Office of Emergency Medical Services with “commissioner” (Revisor's note: In Subdiv. (7) the phrase “... to teach courses, the completion of which are required ...” was changed editorially by the Revisors to “... to teach courses, the completion of which is required ...”); P.A. 00-151 made technical changes and added new Subdivs. (21) to (24) defining “mutual aid call”, “municipality”, “primary service area” and “primary service area responder”, effective July 1, 2000; P.A. 06-195 redefined “management service” in Subdiv. (19), effective June 7, 2006; P.A. 09-16 added Subdiv. (25) defining “interfacility critical care transport”, effective April 30, 2009; P.A. 10-18 amended Subdiv. (7) by replacing “emergency medical technician instructor” with “emergency medical services instructor”; P.A. 10-117 applied definitions to Sec. 19a-179d, amended Subdiv. (7) by replacing “emergency medical technician instructor” with “emergency medical services instructor” and added Subdivs. (26) to (31) defining “advanced emergency medical technician”, “emergency medical responder”, “medical oversight”, “mobile intensive care”, “Office of Emergency Medical Services” and “sponsor hospital”; P.A. 14-231 amended Subdiv. (5) by redefining “emergency medical technician”, amended Subdiv. (7) by redefining “emergency medical services instructor”, amended Subdiv. (10) by redefining “emergency medical service organization”, amended Subdiv. (12) by replacing “profit” with “for-profit”, amended Subdiv. (18) by adding “or nonprofit”, deleted former Subdiv. (19) re definition of “management service”, redesignated existing Subdivs. (20) to (28) as Subdivs. (19) to (27), amended redesignated Subdiv. (24) by replacing “hospitals” with “health care institutions”, amended redesignated Subdiv. (26) by replacing provision re certification by department with provision re certification pursuant to chapter, amended redesignated Subdiv. (27) by replacing “mobile intensive care” with “the provision of emergency medical services” and adding “emergency medical service”, deleted former Subdiv. (29) re definition of “mobile intensive care”, redesignated existing Subdiv. (30) as Subdiv. (28) and amended same by deleting “Services”, redesignated existing Subdiv. (31) as Subdiv. (29) and amended same by replacing “Office of Emergency Medical Services” with “Department of Public Health”, added new Subdiv. (30) defining “paramedic intercept service” and made technical changes; P.A. 15-109 amended Subdiv. (2) by deleting “crippled”; P.A. 15-223 amended Subdiv. (2) by deleting “crippled”, amended Subdivs. (5), (7) and (26) by replacing “this chapter” with “chapter 384d”, amended Subdiv. (15) by replacing “section 20-206 ll ” with “chapter 384d”, and amended Subdiv. (25) by replacing “by the Department of Public Health” with “pursuant to chapter 384d”; P.A. 15-242 added Subdiv. (31) defining “authorized emergency medical services vehicle”; P.A. 17-202 amended Subdiv. (2) by replacing “, ill or physically handicapped person” with “or ill person or a person with a physical disability”; P.A. 19-118 added references to Secs. 19a-177, 19a-179f, 19a-180, 19a-193a and 19a-906 in introductory language, redefined “emergency medical service system” in Subdiv. (1), redefined “emergency medical service organization” in Subdiv. (10), redefined “emergency medical service organization” in Subdiv. (10), deleted Subdiv. (13) defining “provider”, redesignated existing Subdivs. (14) to (19) as new Subdivs. (13) to (18), redesignated existing Subdiv. (20) as new Subdiv. (19) and amended same by redefining “mutual aid call”, redesignated existing Subdiv. (21) as new Subdiv. (20), redesignated existing Subdiv. (22) as new Subdiv. (21) and amended same by redefining “primary service area”, redesignated existing Subdiv. (23) as new Subdiv. (22) and amended same by redefining “primary service area responder”, redesignated existing Subdivs. (24) to (31) as new Subdivs. (23) to (30), added new Subdiv. (31) defining “emergency medical services personnel”, added Subdiv. (32) defining “mobile integrated health care program”, added Subdiv. (33) defining “alternate destination”, and made technical changes, effective July 1, 2019 (Revisor's note: References to Secs. 19a-177, 19a-179f, 19a-180 and 19a-193a in the introductory language were deleted for clarity because all sections are included in “this chapter”); P.A. 21-121 deleted Subdiv. (6) re definition of “ambulance driver”, redesignated existing Subdivs. (7) to (33) as Subdivs. (6) to (32) and made technical changes, effective July 6, 2021. Annotations to former section 19-73u: Cited. 35 CS 136; 37 CS 124.