§ 40:1131 — Definitions

Louisiana § 40:1131

• Jurisdiction: Louisiana
• Title 40: Public Health and Safety

Text

§1131. Definitions
For purposes of this Chapter, the following terms have the meaning ascribed to them
in this Section:
(1) "Advanced life support" or "ALS" means the provision of medically necessary
supplies and services by EMS practitioners who are licensed at least to the level of advanced
emergency technician or equivalent.
(2) "Air ambulance" means any aircraft, either fixed-wing or rotary-winged, designed
and operated as a part of a regular course of conduct or business to transport a sick or injured
individual or which is advertised or otherwise held out to the public as such.
(3) "Air ambulance service" means any person, firm, association, or government
entity owning, controlling, or operating any business or service which furnishes, operates,
conducts, maintains, advertises, engages in, proposes to engage in, or professes to engage in
the business or service of transporting, in air ambulances, individuals who may need medical
attention during transport.
(4) "Ambulance" means any authorized emergency vehicle, equipped with warning
devices, designed and operated as a part of a regular course of conduct or business to
transport a sick or injured individual or which is advertised or otherwise held out to the
public as such. "Ambulance" shall not mean a hearse or other funeral home vehicle utilized
for the transportation of the dead.
(5)(a) "Ambulance service" or "ambulance provider" means any person, firm,
association, or government entity owning, controlling, or operating any business or service
which furnishes, operates, conducts, maintains, advertises, engages in, proposes to engage
in, or professes to engage in the business or service of transporting, in ambulances,
individuals who may need medical attention during transport. Such transport may be made,
based on approved protocols, to an alternative destination when the individual's condition
does not meet the definition of emergency medical condition pursuant to R.S.
22:1821(D)(2)(g)(i). However, no person shall be transported to an alternative destination
unless he consents to being transported to that destination, and no ambulance service shall
transport a person to an alternative destination in which the ambulance service has a financial
interest.
(b) For purposes of this Chapter,"ambulance service" and "ambulance provider" shall
not include any of the following:
(i) An agency of the federal government.
(ii) A volunteer nonprofit organization or municipal nonprofit organization operating
an invalid coach or coaches.
(iii) An entity rendering assistance to a licensed ambulance or ambulances in the case
of a major disaster.
(iv) A licensed hospital providing nonemergency, noncritical interhospital transfer
and patient transportation for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes when such transportation
originates at a licensed hospital.
(v) An entity operating an ambulance or ambulances from a location outside of the
state to transport patients from a location outside of the state to a location inside the state or
to transport a patient or patients from a medical facility inside of the state to a location
outside of the state.
(vi) An entity providing transportation to employees who become sick or injured
during the course of their employment from a job site to the nearest appropriate medical
facility.
(6) "Auto-injector" means a portable, disposable drug delivery device that contains
a measured, single dose of epinephrine that is used to treat a person suffering a potentially
life-threatening anaphylactic reaction.
(7) "Basic life support" or "BLS" means the provision of medically necessary
supplies and services by EMS practitioners who are licensed at least to the level of
emergency medical technician.
(8) "Bureau" means the Louisiana Department of Health, bureau of emergency
medical services.
(9) "Certified ambulance operator" means an individual who is certified by the
bureau as a certified ambulance operator. The term shall not include any individual
employed by a fire department of any municipality, parish, or fire protection district or any
volunteer firefighter of the state of Louisiana.
(10) "Commission" means the Louisiana Emergency Medical Services Commission.
(11) "Department" means the Louisiana Department of Health.
(12) "Emergency medical personnel" means EMS practitioners and certified
ambulance operators.
(13) "Emergency medical response vehicle" means a marked emergency vehicle with
fully visual and audible warning signals operated by a certified ambulance service, the
primary purpose of which is to respond to the scene of a medical emergency to provide
emergency medical stabilization or support, or command, control, and communications, but
which is not an ambulance designed or intended for the purpose of transporting a victim from
the scene to a medical facility regardless of its designation. Included are such vehicles
referred to but not limited to the designation as "sprint car", "quick response vehicle",
"special response vehicle", "triage trucks", "staff cars", "supervisor units", and other similar
designations. Emergency medical response vehicles shall not include fire apparatus and law
enforcement patrol vehicles which carry first aid or emergency medical supplies and which
respond to medical emergencies as part of their routine duties.
(14) "Emergency medical services" or "EMS" means a system that represents the
combined efforts of several professionals and agencies to provide out-of-hospital emergency,
urgent, preventive, and nonemergent care to the sick and injured.
(15) "EMS medical director" means a physician licensed by the Louisiana State
Board of Medical Examiners who has responsibility and authority to ensure quality of care
and provide guidance for all medical aspects of EMS and who specializes in any of the
following areas:
(a) Family practice.
(b) Internal medicine.
(c) General surgery.
(d) Emergency medicine.
(e) Emergency medical services.
(f) Pediatrics.
(g) General practice.
(16) "EMS practitioner" means an individual who is a licensed emergency medical
responder, licensed emergency medical technician, licensed advanced emergency medical
technician, or a licensed paramedic.
(17) "EMS task force" means the Emergency Medical Services Task Force,
composed of individuals subject to the approval of the secretary of the department, which
advises and makes recommendations to the bureau of emergency medical services and the
department on matters related to emergency medical services.
(18) "Industrial ambulance" means any vehicle owned and operated by an industrial
facility and used for transporting any employee who becomes sick, injured, or otherwise
incapacitated in the course and scope of his employment from a job site to an appropriate
medical facility.
(19) "Licensed emergency medical responder" means any individual who has
successfully completed an emergency medical responder education program based on
National EMS Education Standards approved by the bureau and who is licensed by the
bureau.
(20) "Licensed emergency medical services practitioner" means an individual who
is a licensed emergency medical responder or who is nationally registered, who has
successfully completed an emergency medical services practitioner education program based
on national EMS education standards, and who is licensed as any one of the following:
(a) A licensed emergency medical technician.
(b) A licensed advanced emergency medical technician.
(c) A licensed paramedic.
(21) "Moral turpitude" means an act of baseness, vileness, or depravity in the duties
which one person owes another, or to society in general, which is contrary to the usual,
accepted, and customary rule of right and duty which a person should follow.
(22) "Municipal nonprofit organization" means an organization owned by a parish,
municipality, or entity of a parish or municipality which in its regular course of business
responds to a call for help and renders medical treatment and whose attendants are
emergency medical personnel, a registered nurse, or a physician.
(23) "National EMS education standards" means the document that outlines current
nationally recognized EMS education standards, has been adopted by the bureau, and defines
terminal objectives for each nationally defined EMS licensing level.
(24) "Physician" means a physician licensed to practice medicine by the Louisiana
State Board of Medical Examiners.
(25) "Public safety agency" means a functional division of a public or private agency
which provides firefighting, police, medical, or other emergency services.
(26) "Public safety telecommunicator" means an individual answering 911
emergency medical condition calls on behalf of a public safety agency who has authority,
based on a protocol adopted by the agency, to provide telephone cardiopulmonary
resuscitation (T-CPR) instructions to a caller before arrival of professional medical assistance
by first responders.
(27) "Volunteer nonprofit organization" means an organization which in its regular
course of business responds to a call for help and renders medical treatment and whose
attendants are emergency medical personnel, a registered nurse, or a physician and which is
chartered as a nonprofit organization under Section 501(c) of the Internal Revenue Code, as
a volunteer fire department by the Louisiana state fire marshal's office, or as a nonprofit
organization by the Louisiana secretary of state.

Legislative History

Amended by Acts 1968, No. 278, §1; Acts 1976, No. 393, §1; Acts 1977, No. 626, §1; Acts 1978, No. 469, §1; Acts 1978, No. 786, §5, eff. July 17, 1978; Acts 1979, No. 554, §1; Acts 1985, No. 750, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 1987; Acts 1991, No. 974, §1, eff. July 24, 1991; Acts 1997, No. 297, §2; Acts 1997, No. 913, §2; Acts 1999, No. 1113, §1; Acts 1999, No. 1114, §1; Acts 2001, No. 385, §1; Acts 2001, No. 625, §2; Acts 2003, No. 208, §1; Acts 2012, No. 789, §2, eff. June 13, 2012; Redesignated from R.S. 40:1231 by HCR 84 of 2015 R.S.; Acts 2017, No. 106, §1, eff. June 12, 2017; Acts 2018, No. 565, §2; Acts 2018, No. 578, §1; Acts 2022, No. 644, §1; Acts 2024, No. 171, §1, eff. May 23, 2024.