§ 122-B — General ambulance services

§ 122-b. General ambulance services. 1. Any county, city, town or\nvillage, acting individually or jointly, may provide an emergency\nmedical service, a general ambulance service or a combination of such\nservices for the purpose of providing prehospital emergency medical\ntreatment or transporting sick or injured persons found within the\nboundaries of the municipality or the municipalities acting jointly to a\nhospital, clinic, sanatorium or other place for treatment of such\nillness or injury, and for that purpose may:\n (a) Acquire by gift or purchase one or more motor vehicles suitable\nfor such purpose and supply and equip the same with such materials and\nfacilities as it may consider necessary for prehospital emergency\ntreatment, and may operate, maintain, repair and replace such vehicles\nand such supplies and equipment;\n (b) Contract with one or more individuals, municipal corporations,\nassociations, or other organizations, having sufficient trained and\nexperienced personnel, for operation, maintenance and repair of such\nemergency medical service or ambulance vehicles and for the furnishing\nof prehospital emergency treatment;\n (c) Contract with one or more individuals, municipal corporations,\nassociations, or other organizations to supply, staff and equip\nemergency medical service or ambulance vehicles suitable for such\npurposes and operate such vehicles for the furnishing of prehospital\nemergency treatment;\n (d) Employ any combination of the methods authorized in paragraph (a),\n(b) or (c);\n * (e) A contract may be entered into pursuant to the provisions of\nthis section for the services of an emergency rescue and first aid squad\nof a fire department or fire company which is subject to the provisions\nof section two hundred nine-b of this chapter;\n * NB Effective until April 9, 2031\n *(e) No contract shall be entered into pursuant to the provisions of\nthis section for the services of an emergency rescue and first aid squad\nof a fire department or fire company which is subject to the provisions\nof section two hundred nine-b of the general municipal law;\n * NB Effective April 9, 2031\n (f) Consider prehospital emergency treatment as that care provided by\ncertified emergency medical technicians or certified advanced emergency\nmedical technicians certified pursuant to the provisions of article\nthirty of the public health law.\n 1-a. As used in this section:\n (a) "Emergency medical technician" means an individual who meets the\nminimum requirements established by regulations pursuant to section\nthree thousand two of the public health law and who is responsible for\nadministration or supervision of initial emergency medical assistance\nand handling and transportation of sick, disabled or injured persons.\n (b) "Advanced emergency medical technician" means an emergency medical\ntechnician who has satisfactorily completed an advanced course of\ntraining approved by the state council under regulations pursuant to\nsection three thousand two of the public health law.\n 2. Such municipality shall formulate rules and regulations relating to\nthe use of such apparatus and equipment in the provision of emergency\nmedical services or ambulance service and may fix a schedule of fees or\ncharges to be paid by persons requesting the use of such facilities.\nSuch municipalities may provide for the collection of such fees and\ncharges or may formulate rules and regulations for the collection\nthereof by the individuals, municipal corporations, associations, or\nother organizations furnishing service under contract as provided in\nparagraph (c) of subdivision one of this section.\n 3. Such municipality may purchase or provide insurance indemnifying\nagainst liability for the negligent operation of such emergency medical\nservice or ambulance service and the negligent use of other equipment or\nsupplies incidental to the furnishing of such emergency medical service\nor ambulance service.\n 4. Such municipality may provide for the administration and\ncoordination of such emergency medical service or ambulance service\nincluding but not limited to operation of an emergency medical\ncommunications system and medical control.\n 5. Fire districts, which, as part of a fire protection contract, may\nprovide general ambulance and/or emergency ambulance service pursuant to\nsection two hundred nine-b of this chapter and article thirty of the\npublic health law where a town or village has not designated itself as\nthe primary provider of or otherwise contracted for an emergency\nambulance, a general ambulance service, or a combination of such service\nacting individually or jointly, may contract with one or more\nindividuals, municipal corporations, or other organizations having\nsufficient trained personnel, vehicles or combination of personnel and\nvehicles suitable to provide prehospital emergency treatment, for the\nfurnishing of supplemental personnel, equipment or service to cover\ninstances or periods of time when its service may not be readily\navailable.\n 6. (a) Each county, in coordination with their regional emergency\nmedical services council, shall convene meetings and a planning process\nwith cities, towns, and villages within their jurisdiction for the\npurpose of developing and maintaining a comprehensive county emergency\nmedical system plan that shall describe how coordinated and reliable\nemergency medical services within the county would be provided for all\nresidents within the county. The planning process shall include\nassessment of the existing level of emergency medical services in each\narea of the county, a plan to increase or provide service where\nadditional service is needed, a determination as to what organizational\nstructure will be utilized to provide service in each area of the\ncounty, and cost estimates to provide service in areas requiring service\nlevels greater than currently available. The goal of this process is to\nprovide a framework to assist state and local decision makers in\nachieving the objective of ensuring that reliable emergency medical\nservices and ambulance services are made available to every person in\nthe state.\n (b) In developing the comprehensive county emergency medical system\nplan, each county, city, town, and village shall work together to\nspecify which entity or entities, and which organizational structure\nwill be utilized for providing emergency medical services and how costs\nfor providing such services will be assigned. Such plan may utilize\nmunicipal, intermunicipal, not-for-profit or for-profit contract\ncoverage, special district, or regional agreements for providing service\nin each area of the county.\n (c) Comprehensive county emergency medical system plans shall be\ncompleted within six months of the effective date of this section and\nsubmitted to the department of health and the state emergency medical\nservices council for review, and comment.\n