§ 3005 — Ambulance service certificates

§ 3005. Ambulance service certificates. 1. No ambulance service\noperating for profit, hospital ambulance service or municipal ambulance\nservice of a city of over one million population shall operate on or\nafter September first, nineteen hundred seventy-five unless it possesses\na valid ambulance service certificate issued pursuant to this article.\nEffective January first, nineteen hundred ninety-seven, no ambulance\nservice shall be operated unless it possesses a valid ambulance service\noperating certificate issued pursuant to this article or has been issued\na statement of registration. No advanced life support first response\nservice shall operate unless it possesses a valid advanced life support\nfirst responder service operating certificate. Effective January first,\ntwo thousand, no ambulance service shall be operated unless it possesses\na valid operating certificate.\n 2. The department shall issue an initial certificate to an ambulance\nservice certified prior to the effective date of this section upon\nsubmission of proof that it is the holder of a valid ambulance service\ncertificate and is otherwise in compliance with provisions of section\nthree thousand nine of this article.\n 2-a. Prior to January first, two thousand, the department shall issue\nan initial certificate to a registered ambulance service in possession\nof a valid registration provided that such service has been issued an\nexemption issued by a regional council pursuant to subdivision five-a of\nsection three thousand three of this article.\n 3. The department shall issue an initial certificate to an advanced\nlife support first response service upon submission of proof that such\nadvanced life support first response service is staffed and equipped in\naccordance with rules and regulations promulgated pursuant to this\narticle and is otherwise in compliance with provisions of section three\nthousand nine of this article.\n 4. A certificate issued to an ambulance service or advanced life\nsupport first response service shall be valid for two years. The initial\ncertification fee shall be one hundred dollars. Thereafter the biennial\nfee shall be in accordance with the schedule of fees established by the\ncommissioner pursuant to this article. However, there shall be no\ninitial or renewal certification fee required of a voluntary ambulance\nservice or voluntary advanced life support first response service.\n 5. No initial certificate (except initial certificates issued pursuant\nto subdivision two of this section) shall be issued unless the\ncommissioner finds that the proposed operator or operators are competent\nand fit to operate the service and that the ambulance service or\nadvanced life support first response service is staffed and equipped in\naccordance with rules and regulations promulgated pursuant to this\narticle.\n 6. No ambulance service or advanced life support first response\nservice shall begin operation without prior approval of the appropriate\nregional council, or if there is no appropriate regional council\nestablished such ambulance service or advanced life support first\nresponse service shall apply for approval from the state council as to\nthe public need for the establishment of additional ambulance service or\nadvanced life support first response service, pursuant to section three\nthousand eight of this article.\n 7. Applications for a certificate shall be made by the owner of an\nambulance service or advanced life support first response service\noperating for profit or the responsible official of a voluntary\nambulance service or advanced life support first response service upon\nforms provided by the department. The application shall state the name\nand address of the owner and such other information as the department\nmay require pursuant to rules and regulations.\n 8. For purposes of this article, competent means that any proposed\noperator of any ambulance service or advanced life support first\nresponse service who is already or had been within the last ten years an\nincorporator, director, sponsor, principal stockholder, or operator of\nany ambulance service, hospital, private proprietary home for adults,\nresidence for adults, or non-profit home for the aged or blind which has\nbeen issued an operating certificate by the state department of social\nservices, or a halfway house, hostel, or other residential facility or\ninstitution for the care, custody, or treatment of the mentally disabled\nsubject to the approval by the department of mental hygiene, or any\ninvalid coach service subject to approval by the department of\ntransportation, is rendering or did render a substantially consistent\nhigh level of care. For purposes of this subdivision, the state\nemergency medical services council shall adopt rules and regulations,\nsubject to the approval of the commissioner, to establish the criteria\nto be used to define substantially consistent high level of care with\nrespect to ambulance services, advanced life support first response\nservices, and invalid coaches, except that the commissioner may not find\nthat a consistently high level of care has been rendered where there\nhave been violations of the state EMS code, or other applicable rules\nand regulations, that (i) threatened to directly affect the health,\nsafety, or welfare of any patient, and (ii) were recurrent or were not\npromptly corrected. For purposes of this article, the rules adopted by\nthe state hospital review and planning council with respect to\nsubdivision three of section twenty-eight hundred one-a of this chapter\nshall apply to other types of operators. Fit means that the operator or\nproposed operator (a) has not been convicted of a crime or pleaded nolo\ncontendere to a felony charge involving murder, manslaughter, assault,\nsexual abuse, theft, robbery, fraud, embezzlement, drug abuse, or sale\nof drugs and (b) is not or was not subject to a state or federal\nadministrative order relating to fraud or embezzlement, unless the\ncommissioner finds that such conviction or such order does not\ndemonstrate a present risk or danger to patients or the public.\n