A local EMS agency that elects to develop a community paramedicine or triage to alternate destination program shall do all of the following:
(a) Integrate the proposed community paramedicine or triage to alternate destination program into the local EMS agency’s emergency medical services plan described in Article 2 (commencing with Section 1797.250) of Chapter 4.
(b) Provide medical control and oversight.
(c) Consistent with this article, develop a process to select community paramedicine providers or triage to alternate destination providers, to provide services as described in Section 1815 or 1819, at a periodic interval established by the local EMS agency.
(d) Facilitate any necessary agreements with one or more community paramedicine or triage to alternate destination providers for the delivery of community paramedicine or triage to alternate destination services within the local EMS agency’s jurisdiction that are consistent with the proposed community paramedicine or triage to alternate destination program. The local EMS agency shall provide medical control and oversight of the program.
(e) The local EMS agency shall not include, in a request for proposal or otherwise, the provision of community paramedic program specialties or triage to alternate destination program specialties as part of an existing or proposed contract for the delivery of emergency medical transport services awarded pursuant to Section 1797.224. The local EMS agency shall not offer additional points or preferences to a bidder for emergency medical transport services on the basis that the bidder will provide, or has negotiated or agreed to provide, community paramedicine or triage to alternate destinations.
(f) The local EMS agency shall prohibit triage and assessment protocols or a triage paramedic’s decision to authorize transport to an alternate destination facility from being based on, or affected by, a patient’s ethnicity, citizenship, age, preexisting medical condition, insurance status, economic status, ability to pay for medical services, or any other characteristic listed or defined in subdivision (b) or (e) of Section 51 of the Civil Code, except to the extent that a circumstance such as age, sex, preexisting medical condition, or physical or mental disability is medically significant to the provision of appropriate medical care to the patient.
(g) Facilitate funding discussions between a community paramedicine provider, triage to alternate destination provider, or incumbent emergency medical transport provider and public or private health system participants to support the implementation of the local EMS agency’s community paramedicine or triage to alternate destination program.
(Added by Stats. 2020, Ch. 138, Sec. 4. (AB 1544) Effective January 1, 2021. Repealed as of January 1, 2024, pursuant to Section 1857.)