A. 1. No person, company, governmental entity or trust authority may operate an ambulance service within this state except as provided in this section. The State Commissioner of Health, the district attorney of the county wherein the ambulance service operates or may be found, or the Attorney General of this state shall have the authority to bring an action to enjoin the operation of any ambulance service not in compliance with the provisions of this act.
2. A ground ambulance service based outside of this state that is licensed and in good standing in its home state may respond to an emergency request for care and transport of a patient within this state provided no local licensed ambulance service is readily available, and may be exempt from the licensing requirements of this state pursuant to rules promulgated by the State Board of Health.
3. Requests for service must be referred by an Oklahoma emergency dispatch center. The Board may require such exempt ambulance service to subsequently provide documentation of emergency response activities performed within this state.
4. The State Department of Health shall have the authority to investigate any complaint associated with an emergency response by an out-of-state ambulance service in the same manner as ambulance services licensed by the Department within this state.
B. The Commissioner shall have the authority to revoke or suspend any license, to issue probationary licenses, or to levy such administrative fines and penalties as may be deemed necessary, for violations of the provisions of this act, subject to the provisions of the Administrative Procedures Act. The powers afforded the Commissioner within the general enforcement provisions of the Public Health Code are additionally incorporated herein.
C. In addition to any other penalties, any person, company, governmental entity or trust authority who violates any of the provisions of this act relating to compliance with the provisions of this act or of standards, specifications, procedures and rules adopted by the Board may be punished by the assessment of a civil penalty of not more than One Hundred Dollars ($100.00) for each violation. Each day a violation continues shall be considered a separate offense.
D. The operation or maintenance of an ambulance service in violation of this act, or the rules promulgated by the Board, is declared a public nuisance inimical to the public welfare. The Commissioner in the name of the people of the state, through the Attorney General, or the district attorney of the county in which the ambulance service is located, may, in addition to other remedies herein provided, bring action for an injunction to restrain such violation or to enjoin the future operation or maintenance of any such ambulance service.
Added by Laws 1990, c. 320, § 13, emerg. eff. May 30, 1990. Amended by Laws 2005, c. 191, § 1, eff. Nov. 1, 2005; Laws 2006, c. 16, § 46, emerg. eff. March 29, 2006.
NOTE: Editorially renumbered from § 1-2409 of this title to avoid duplication in numbering.
NOTE: Laws 2005, c. 204, § 2 repealed by Laws 2006, c. 16, § 47, emerg. eff. March 29, 2006.