Okla. Stat. tit. 63, § 63-1-2503v1

As used in the Oklahoma Emergency Response Systems Development

Act:

1. "Ambulance" means any ground, air or water vehicle which is

or should be approved by the Commissioner of Health, designed and

equipped to transport a patient or patients and to provide

appropriate on-scene and en route patient stabilization and care as

required. Vehicles used as ambulances shall meet such standards as

may be required by the State Board of Health for approval, and shall

display evidence of such approval at all times;

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2. "Ambulance authority" means any public trust or nonprofit

corporation established by the state or any unit of local government

or combination of units of government for the express purpose of

providing, directly or by contract, emergency medical services in a

specified area of the state;

3. "Ambulance patient" or "patient" means any person who is or

will be transported in a reclining position to or from a health care

facility in an ambulance;

4. "Ambulance service" means any private firm or governmental

agency which is or should be licensed by the State Department of

Health to provide levels of medical care, including but not limited

to comprehensive integrated medical care in emergency and

nonemergency settings under the supervision of a physician, based on

certification standards promulgated by the Board;

5. "Ambulance service district" means any county, group of

counties or parts of counties formed together to provide, operate

and finance emergency medical services as provided by Section 9C of

Article X of the Oklahoma Constitution or Sections 1201 through 1221

of Title 19 of the Oklahoma Statutes;

6. "Board" means the State Board of Health;

7. "Certified emergency medical responder" means an individual

certified by the Department to perform emergency medical services in

accordance with the Oklahoma Emergency Response Systems Development

Act and in accordance with the rules and standards promulgated by

the Board;

8. "Certified emergency medical response agency" means an

organization of any type certified by the Department to provide

emergency medical care, but not transport. Certified emergency

medical response agencies may utilize certified emergency medical

responders or licensed emergency medical personnel; provided,

however, that all personnel so utilized shall function under the

direction of and consistent with guidelines for medical control;

9. "Classification" means an inclusive standardized

identification of stabilizing and definitive emergency services

provided by each hospital that treats emergency patients;

10. "CoAEMSP" means the Committee on Accreditation of

Educational Programs for the Emergency Medical Services Professions;

11. "Commissioner" means the State Commissioner of Health;

12. "Community paramedic" means a licensed paramedic who meets

the requirements of Section 1-2505 of this title;

13. "Community paramedic services" means services that include

interventions intended to prevent unnecessary ambulance

transportation or hospital emergency department use.

a. Community paramedic services must be part of a care

plan ordered by a primary health care provider or a

hospital provider in consultation with the medical

director of an ambulance service. Such care plan must

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ensure that the services provided by a community

paramedic do not duplicate services already provided

to the patient, including home health and waiver

services.

b. Community paramedic services shall include health

assessment, chronic disease monitoring and education,

medication compliance, immunizations and vaccinations,

laboratory specimen collection, hospital discharge

follow-up care and minor medical procedures compliant

with the community paramedic's scope of practice and

approved by the ambulance medical director;
health and waiver

services.

b. Community paramedic services shall include health

assessment, chronic disease monitoring and education,

medication compliance, immunizations and vaccinations,

laboratory specimen collection, hospital discharge

follow-up care and minor medical procedures compliant

with the community paramedic's scope of practice and

approved by the ambulance medical director;

14. "Council" means the Trauma and Emergency Response Advisory

Council created in Section 1-103a.1 of this title;

15. "Critical care paramedic" or "CCP" means a licensed

paramedic who has successfully completed critical care training and

testing requirements in accordance with the Oklahoma Emergency

Response Systems Development Act and in accordance with the rules

and standards promulgated by the Board;

16. "Department" means the State Department of Health;

17. "Emergency medical services system" means a system which

provides for the organization and appropriate designation of

personnel, facilities and equipment for the effective and

coordinated local, regional and statewide delivery of health care

services primarily under emergency conditions;

18. "Letter of review" means the official designation from

CoAEMSP to a paramedic program that is in the "becoming accredited"

process;

19. "Licensed emergency medical personnel" means an emergency

medical technician (EMT), an intermediate emergency medical

technician (IEMT), an advanced emergency medical technician (AEMT),

or a paramedic licensed by the Department to perform emergency

medical services in accordance with the Oklahoma Emergency Response

Systems Development Act and the rules and standards promulgated by

the Board;

20. "Licensure" means the licensing of emergency medical care

providers and ambulance services pursuant to rules and standards

promulgated by the Board at one or more of the following levels:

a. basic life support,

b. intermediate life support,

c. paramedic life support,

d. advanced life support,

e. stretcher aid van, and

f. specialty care, which shall be used solely for

interhospital transport of patients requiring

specialized en route medical monitoring and advanced

life support which exceed the capabilities of the

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equipment and personnel provided by paramedic life

support.

Requirements for each level of care shall be established by the

Board. Licensure at any level of care includes a license to operate

at any lower level, with the exception of licensure for specialty

care; provided, however, that the highest level of care offered by

an ambulance service shall be available twenty-four (24) hours each

day, three hundred sixty-five (365) days per year.

Licensure shall be granted or renewed for such periods and under

such terms and conditions as may be promulgated by the Board;

21. "Medical control" means local, regional or statewide

medical direction and quality assurance of health care delivery in

an emergency medical service system. On-line medical control is the

medical direction given to licensed emergency medical personnel,

certified emergency medical responders and stretcher aid van

personnel by a physician via radio or telephone. Off-line medical

control is the establishment and monitoring of all medical

components of an emergency medical service system, which is to

include stretcher aid van service including, but not limited to,

protocols, standing orders, educational programs, and the quality

and delivery of on-line control;

22. "Medical director" means a physician, fully licensed

without restriction, who acts as a paid or volunteer medical advisor

to a licensed ambulance service and who monitors and directs the

care so provided. Such physicians shall meet such qualifications

and requirements as may be promulgated by the Board;

23. "Region" or "emergency medical service region" means two or
y of on-line control;

22. "Medical director" means a physician, fully licensed

without restriction, who acts as a paid or volunteer medical advisor

to a licensed ambulance service and who monitors and directs the

care so provided. Such physicians shall meet such qualifications

and requirements as may be promulgated by the Board;

23. "Region" or "emergency medical service region" means two or

more municipalities, counties, ambulance districts or other

political subdivisions exercising joint control over one or more

providers of emergency medical services and stretcher aid van

service through common ordinances, authorities, boards or other

means;

24. "Regional emergency medical services system" means a

network of organizations, individuals, facilities and equipment

which serves a region, subject to a unified set of regional rules

and standards which may exceed, but may not be in contravention of,

those required by the state, which is under the medical direction of

a single regional medical director, and which participates directly

in the delivery of the following services:

a. medical call-taking and emergency medical services

dispatching, emergency and routine, including priority

dispatching of first response agencies, stretcher aid

van and ambulances,

b. emergency medical responder services provided by

emergency medical response agencies,

c. ambulance services, both emergency, routine and

stretcher aid van including, but not limited to, the

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transport of patients in accordance with transport

protocols approved by the regional medical director,

and

d. directions given by physicians directly via radio or

telephone, or by written protocol, to emergency

medical response agencies, stretcher aid van or

ambulance personnel at the scene of an emergency or

while en route to a hospital;

25. "Regional medical director" means a licensed physician, who

meets or exceeds the qualifications of a medical director as defined

by the Oklahoma Emergency Response Systems Development Act, chosen

by an emergency medical service region to provide external medical

oversight, quality control and related services to that region;

26. "Registration" means the listing of an ambulance service in

a registry maintained by the Department; provided, however,

registration shall not be deemed to be a license;

27. "Stretcher aid van" means any ground vehicle which is or

should be approved by the State Commissioner of Health, which is

designed and equipped to transport individuals on a stretcher or

gurney type apparatus. Vehicles used as stretcher aid vans shall

meet such standards as may be required by the State Board of Health

for approval and shall display evidence of such approval at all

times. Stretcher aid van services shall only be permitted and

approved by the Commissioner in emergency medical service regions,

ambulance service districts, or counties with populations in excess

of four hundred thousand (400,000) people. Notwithstanding the

provisions of this paragraph, stretcher aid van transports may be

made to and from any federal or state veterans facility;

28. "Stretcher aid van patient" means any person who is or will

be transported in a reclining position on a stretcher or gurney, who

is medically stable, nonemergent and does not require any medical

monitoring equipment or assistance during transport; and

29. "Transport protocol" means the written instructions

governing decision-making at the scene of a medical emergency by

ambulance personnel regarding the selection of the hospital to which

the patient shall be transported. Transport protocols shall be

developed by the regional medical director for a regional emergency

medical services system or by the Department if no regional

emergency medical services system has been established. Such

transport protocols shall adhere to, at a minimum, the following

guidelines:
ulance personnel regarding the selection of the hospital to which

the patient shall be transported. Transport protocols shall be

developed by the regional medical director for a regional emergency

medical services system or by the Department if no regional

emergency medical services system has been established. Such

transport protocols shall adhere to, at a minimum, the following

guidelines:

a. nonemergency, routine transport shall be to the

facility of the patient's choice,

b. urgent or emergency transport not involving life-

threatening medical illness or injury shall be to the

nearest facility, or, subject to transport

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availability and system area coverage, to the facility

of the patient's choice, and

c. life-threatening medical illness or injury shall

require transport to the nearest health care facility

appropriate to the needs of the patient as established

by regional or state guidelines.