Opinion ID: 2582605
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: the ems system

Text: ¶ 7 The municipalities of Tulsa and Oklahoma City jointly established an emergency medical services system (EMS system) through an Inter-local Agreement. [6] Pursuant to the agreement, both municipalities accepted beneficiary status of the Emergency Medical Services Authority, [7] a public trust created for the purpose of providing the emergency medical services, and they also adopted a uniform code for emergency medical services (EMS code). [8] The agreement and the EMS code delineated three areas of responsibility for the EMS system. ¶ 8 First, the municipalities were required to create an administrative agency with regulatory powers to oversee the clinical aspects of the EMS system. Accordingly, the municipalities created the Emergency Physicians Foundation (EPF). The EPF membership consists of board-certified emergency medicine physicians in the Tulsa and Oklahoma City areas. The EPF also has a nine-member board of directors, the Medical Control Board, consisting of board-certified emergency medicine physicians engaged full-time in the practice of emergency medicine. The Medical Control Board sets the standard of care for emergency medical services in Tulsa, Oklahoma City, and other regulated areas. To assure compliance with its standard of care, the Board hires a Medical Director. ¶ 9 Second, the agreement and the EMS code provide that EMSA is responsible for the overall financial affairs of the EMS system. EMSA controls the rate structure, subsidy, and all billing and collections. EMSA is also responsible for acquiring, as owner, all EMS vehicles, equipment and other property necessary to provide dispatching and ambulance services in the regulated areas. [9] ¶ 10 Third, to comply with its general charge to provide ambulance services to the citizens in the regulated areas, the agreement and the EMS code obligate EMSA to select an operations contractor to operate the EMS control centers and to provide dispatching and in-field services under EMSA's name and EMS license. [10] EMSA must select the operations contractor through competitive bid. [11] The operations contractor supplies the personnel necessary to operate the ambulance service throughout the regulated areas at the price fixed by the competitive bid. [12]