Virginia Administrative Code › Title 12 - HEALTH › Agency 5 - DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH › Chapter 31 - VIRGINIA EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES REGULATIONS › Part II - EMS Agency, EMS Vehicle and EMS Personnel Standards › Article 3 - Emergency Medical Services Vehicle Classifications and Requirements › Section 12VAC5-31-760 - EMS vehicle communications

Current through Register Vol. 40, No. 24, July 15, 2024
A. An EMS vehicle shall have fixed
					 communications equipment that provides direct two-way voice communications
					 capabilities between the EMS vehicle, other EMS vehicles of the same agency,
					 and either the agency's base of operations (dispatch point) or a governmental
					 public safety answering point (PSAP). This communication capability must be
					 available within the agency's primary service area. Service may be provided by
					 private mobile radio service (PMRS) or by commercial mobile radio service
					 (CMRS), but shall have direct and immediate communications via push-to-talk
					 technology.
B. An ambulance
					 transporting outside its primary service area shall have fixed or portable
					 communications equipment that provides two-way voice communications
					 capabilities between the EMS vehicle and either the agency's base of operations
					 (dispatch point) or PSAP during the period of transport. Service may be
					 provided by private mobile radio service (PMRS) or by commercial mobile radio
					 service (CMRS). When operating outside the agency's area of routine
					 responsibility or in areas where CMRS is not available, the requirement for
					 direct and immediate communications via push-to-talk technology does not apply.
					 If an agency is licensed as a DERA, it is required to have direct and immediate
					 communications via push-to-talk technology for either the agency's base of
					 operations, dispatch point, or PSAP for which the EMS agency vehicle is used
					 for emergency response to the public in the jurisdiction where a memorandum of
					 understanding or memorandum of agreement is in place or is contractually
					 obligated to provide emergency response.
C. An ambulance or an advanced life
					 support-equipped, nontransport response vehicle shall have communications
					 equipment that provides two-way voice communications capabilities between the
					 EMS vehicle's attendant-in-charge and the receiving medical facilities to which
					 it regularly transports or a designated central medical control on one or more
					 of the following frequencies:
155.340 MHz (statewide HEAR);
155.400 MHz (Tidewater HEAR);
155.280 MHZ (Inter-Hospital HEAR);
462.950/467.950 (MED 9 or CALL 1);
462.975/467.975 (MED 10 or CALL 2);
462.950-463.19375/467.950-468.19375 (UHF MED CHANNELS
						1-10); and
220 MHz, 700MHz, 800MHz, or 900MHz frequency and
						designated talkgroup or channel identified as part of an agency,
						jurisdictional, or regional communications plan for ambulance to hospital
						communications.
1. Patient care
					 communications with medical facilities may not be conducted on the same
					 frequencies or talkgroups as those used for dispatch and on-scene
					 operations.
2. Before establishing
					 direct push-to-talk communications with the receiving medical facility or
					 central medical control, EMS vehicles may be required to dial an access code.
					 Radios in ambulances or advanced life support-equipped, nontransport response
					 vehicles must be programmed or equipped with encoding equipment necessary to
					 activate tone-coded squelched radios at medical facilities to which they
					 transport on a regular basis.
3.
					 Nothing herein prohibits the use of CMRS for primary or secondary
					 communications with medical facilities, provided that the requirements of this
					 section are met.