[First Reprint]

SENATE, No. 2002

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

INTRODUCED APRIL 17, 1997

By Senators CIESLA and PALAIA

An Act concerning mobile intensive care units and supplementing P.L.1984, c.146 (C.26:2K-7 et seq.).

    Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

    1. The Legislature finds and declares that:

    a. The citizens of New Jersey have become accustomed to, and rely upon, a high-quality emergency medical services system; and the various entities which comprise that system, including the many agencies, both paid and volunteer, which provide basic life support services, the 36 authorized mobile intensive care units, and the two programs which provide airborne emergency medical transportation, have functioned as a team to deliver care in a timely and efficient manner;

    b. More than 90% of the residents of this State receive basic life support treatment and transportation from a volunteer emergency medical services agency;

    c. Changing socioeconomic conditions have impacted heavily upon many volunteer emergency medical services agencies, impairing their ability to respond to calls for assistance at certain times; and this impairment has created a state of emergency which endangers the lives and safety of New Jersey citizens; and

    d. The authorized mobile intensive care units, in conjunction with many volunteer emergency medical services agencies, have developed an effective and efficient means of addressing this problem through the provisions of this act.

    2. An authorized mobile intensive care unit operating pursuant to P.L.1984, c.146 (C.26:2K-7 et seq.) as of the effective date of this act, which elects to operate one or more transport-capable ambulances as a mobile intensive care unit vehicle, may, in the course of responding to a call for emergency medical assistance, transport a patient to an appropriate emergency treatment facility, at the discretion of a mobile intensive care paramedic or registered professional nurse staffing the ¹mobile intensive care unit¹ vehicle, if ¹:(a) the mobile intensive care paramedic or registered professional nurse staffing the mobile intensive care unit has completed all field treatment of the patient; (b)¹ the primary basic life support ambulance service provider for that municipality has not arrived ¹with an emergency ambulance, or its arrival is not imminent,¹ at the scene of the medical emergency at the time the paramedic or nurse determines that it is necessary to transport the patient to an emergency treatment facility ¹; and (c) the paramedic or nurse has made appropriate inquiries regarding the response status of the municipality's primary basic life support ambulance provider.

    Nothing in this act shall be construed to alter normal patient-flow patterns for mobile intensive care units or primary basic life support ambulance providers¹.

    3. The provisions of section 2 of this act shall constitute a waiver to any certificate of need issued to a hospital to develop and maintain a mobile intensive care unit pursuant to P.L.1984, c.146 (C.26:2K-7 et seq.), which shall authorize that unit to operate one or more transport-capable ambulances as a mobile intensive care unit vehicle in accordance with regulations adopted by the commissioner.

    4. This act shall take effect immediately.

Permits mobile intensive care unit to transport patient to emergency treatment facility.