Kentucky Administrative Regulations › Title 202 - INDEPENDENT ADMINISTRATIVE BODIES › Chapter 7 - Kentucky Board of Emergency Medical Services › Section 202 KAR 7:545E - License classifications

Current through Register Vol. 51, No. 1, July 1, 2024
RELATES TO:
				KRS
				311A.030,
				311A.190
NECESSITY, FUNCTION, AND CONFORMITY:
				KRS
				311A.020 requires the Board of Emergency
				Medical Services to exercise all administrative functions in the regulation of
				ambulance services and medical first response agencies, except those regulated
				by the Board of Medical Licensure or the Cabinet for Health and Family
				Services.
				KRS
				311A.030 requires the board to promulgate
				administrative regulations to establish requirements for various classes of
				ambulance and emergency medical service agencies. This administrative
				regulation establishes requirements for each class of ambulance service and
				medical first response agencies.
Section
			 1. License Classifications.
(1)
			 In accordance with
			 KRS
			 311A.030(1), license
			 classifications for ambulance providers shall include:
(a) A Class I ground ambulance agency
			 operating at the Advanced Life Support (ALS), Basic Life Support (BLS), or
			 Adult Critical Care Transport level to provide emergency and nonemergency care
			 and transportation.
(b) A Class II
			 ground ambulance agency operating at the BLS level only to provide nonemergency
			 care and transportation.
(c) A
			 Class III ground ambulance agency operating at the ALS level to provide
			 critical care, specialty care, emergency or nonemergency care, and
			 transportation between health care facilities. Based on the Certificate of Need
			 and scope of care policy, a Class III ground ambulance agency shall be
			 designated as one (1) or more of the following types:
1. A Class III Adult Critical Care agency
			 providing critical care transport services to patients ages twelve (12) and
			 above;
2. A Class III Pediatric
			 Specialty Care agency providing specialty care transport services to patients
			 under the age of twenty-one (21); or
3. A Class III Neonatal Specialty Care agency
			 providing specialty care transport services to patients less than twenty-nine
			 (29) days of age.
(d) A
			 Class IV ground ambulance agency operating at the ALS or BLS level to provide
			 emergency and nonemergency care and transportation for restricted locations,
			 such as industrial sites or other sites that do not provide services outside
			 the designated geographic service area.
(e) A Class VI agency providing medical first
			 response without patient transport at the BLS or ALS level.
1. Each BLS First Response agency shall be
			 licensed separately as a Class VI BLS agency unless a mutual aid agreement is
			 executed with a licensed Class I ambulance agency that provides 911 response
			 services for the geographic service area.
2. A nonlicensed BLS First Response Agency
			 may execute a mutual aid agreement with multiple nonlicensed BLS First Response
			 Agencies that serve the same geographic service area.
3. A mutual aid agreement shall automatically
			 renew at the conclusion of a calendar year.
4. A nonlicensed BLS First Response Agency or
			 a Class I ALS agency may terminate a mutual aid agreement thirty (30) days
			 after written notice is provided to the other party.
5. A mutual aid agreement between a Class I
			 ALS agency and a nonlicensed BLS First Response agency serving the same
			 geographic area shall be updated as changes to the agreement occur and shall
			 include provisions for:
a. Medical
			 direction;
b. BLS
			 protocols;
c. Response
			 protocol;
d. Geographic service
			 areas to be served;
e.
			 Circumstances causing dispatch of the nonlicensed BLS first response
			 agency;
f. Training;
g. Quality assurance processes; and
h. Liability Insurance if
			 applicable.
6. A
			 nonlicensed BLS First Response agency shall not provide BLS care outside of the
			 geographic service area of the Class I ALS agency.
7. A nonlicensed BLS First Response agency
			 unable to secure a written mutual aid agreement with a Class I ALS agency
			 within its geographic service area, may operate within the jurisdiction as a
			 nonlicensed BLS First Response agency if the agency has written correspondence
			 from at least one (1) Class I 911 agency within its geographic service area
			 denying the agency's request to enter into a mutual aid agreement. The
			 correspondence denying the mutual aid request shall be maintained on file at
			 the agency.
8. A license to provide
			 BLS care shall not be issued solely through the execution of a mutual aid
			 agreement between a Class I agency and a nonlicensed BLS First Response
			 agency;
(f) A Class VII
			 rotor wing air ambulance service providing ALS emergency or nonemergency air
			 transportation;
(g) A fixed wing
			 class VII service provides ALS or BLS emergency or nonemergency air
			 transportation; and
(h) A Class
			 VIII agency providing BLS or ALS pre-hospital care above the first-aid level at
			 special events, sports events, concerts, or large social gatherings.
1. A Class VIII agency shall not transport
			 patients beyond the grounds of an event and shall be bound by the geographic
			 service area of its Certificate of Need.
2. A Class VIII agency shall not transport
			 patients independently to a hospital.
3. If transport of a patient is required, a
			 Class VIII agency shall contact 911 for transport by a Class I agency licensed
			 for the geographic service area.