Okla. Stat. tit. 63, § 63-1-2503v2

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 State 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 Commissioner for approval, and shall display

evidence of such approval at all times;

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 based on certification

standards promulgated by the Commissioner;

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;

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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 Commissioner;

8. "Certified emergency medical response agency" means an

organization of any type certified by the Department to provide

emergency medical care and limited transport in an emergency vehicle

as defined in Section 1-103 of Title 47 of the Oklahoma Statutes. A

certified emergency medical response agency shall only provide

transport upon approval by the appropriate online medical control at

the time of 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. "Council" means the Trauma and Emergency Response Advisory

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

13. "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 Commissioner;

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

15. "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;

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

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

process;

17. "Licensed emergency medical personnel" means an emergency
propriate designation of

personnel, facilities and equipment for the effective and

coordinated local, regional and statewide delivery of health care

services primarily under emergency conditions;

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

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

process;

17. "Licensed emergency medical personnel" means an emergency

medical technician (EMT), an intermediate, 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 Commissioner;

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

providers and ambulance services pursuant to rules and standards

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promulgated by the Commissioner 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 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

equipment and personnel provided by paramedic life

support.

Requirements for each level of care shall be established by the

Commissioner. 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 Commissioner;

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

medical direction and quality assurance of health care delivery in

an emergency medical service system. Online medical control is the

medical direction given to licensed emergency medical personnel,

certified emergency medical responders and stretcher 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 van

service including, but not limited to, protocols, standing orders,

educational programs, and the quality and delivery of online

control;

20. "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 Commissioner;

21. "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 van service

through common ordinances, authorities, boards or other means;

22. "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

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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 van

and ambulances,

b. emergency medical responder services provided by
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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 van

and ambulances,

b. emergency medical responder services provided by

emergency medical response agencies,

c. ambulance services, both emergency, routine and

stretcher van including, but not limited to, the

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 van or ambulance

personnel at the scene of an emergency or while en

route to a hospital;

23. "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;

24. "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;

25. "Stretcher 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 vans shall meet such

standards as may be required by the Commissioner for approval and

shall display evidence of licensure at all times. The Commissioner

shall not establish Federal Specification KKK-A-1822 ambulance

standards for stretcher vans; provided, a stretcher van shall meet

Ambulance Manufacturers Division (AMD) Standards 004, 012 and 013,

and shall pass corresponding safety tests. Stretcher 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 five hundred thousand

(500,000) people. Notwithstanding the provisions of this paragraph,

stretcher van transports may be made to and from any federal or

state veterans facility. Stretcher vans may carry and provide

oxygen and may carry and utilize any equipment necessary for the

provision of oxygen;

26. "Stretcher van passenger" 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

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monitoring equipment or assistance during transport except oxygen.

Passengers must be authorized as qualified to be transported by

stretcher van. Passengers shall be authorized through screening

provided by a certified medical dispatching protocol approved by the

Department. All patients being transported to or from any medically

licensed facility shall be screened before transport. Any patient

transported without screening shall be a violation of Commissioner

rule by the transporting company and subject to administrative

procedures of the Department; and

27. "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:

a. nonemergency, routine transport shall be to the

facility of the patient's choice,
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

availability and system area coverage, to the facility

of the patient's choice,

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, and

d. emergency ambulance transportation is not required

when a patient's apparent clinical condition, as

defined by applicable medical treatment protocols,

does not warrant emergency ambulance transport, and

nontransport of patients is authorized pursuant to

applicable medical treatment protocols established by

the regional medical director.