<p> 1 South Carolina General Assembly 2 118th Session, 2009-2010 3 4 H. 3468 5 6 STATUS INFORMATION 7 8 General Bill 9 Sponsors: Reps. Crawford, Stringer, Allison, Wylie and Millwood 10 Document Path: l:\council\bills\nbd\11196ac09.docx 11 12 Introduced in the House on February 10, 2009 13 Introduced in the Senate on January 26, 2010 14 Last Amended on January 21, 2010 15 Currently residing in the Senate Committee on Medical Affairs 16 17 Summary: Children's Emergency Medical Services Act 18 19 20 HISTORY OF LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS 21 22 Date Body Action Description with journal page number 23 2/10/2009 House Introduced and read first time HJ5 24 2/10/2009 House Referred to Committee on Medical, Military, Public and Municipal Affairs HJ5 25 5/14/2009 House Member(s) request name added as sponsor: Millwood 26 1/20/2010 House Committee report: Favorable with amendment Medical, Military, Public and 27 Municipal Affairs HJ27 28 1/21/2010 House Amended HJ27 29 1/21/2010 House Read second time HJ29 30 1/21/2010 House Unanimous consent for third reading on next legislative day HJ29 31 1/22/2010 House Read third time and sent to Senate HJ1 32 1/22/2010 Scrivener's error corrected 33 1/26/2010 Senate Introduced and read first time SJ9 34 1/26/2010 Senate Referred to Committee on Medical Affairs SJ9 35 36 37 VERSIONS OF THIS BILL 38 39 2/10/2009 40 1/20/2010 41 1/21/2010 42 1/22/2010 43 1 Indicates Matter Stricken 2 Indicates New Matter 3 4 AMENDED 5 January 21, 2010 6 7 H. 3468 8 9 Introduced by Reps. Crawford, Stringer, Allison, Wylie and 10 Millwood 11 12 S. Printed 1/21/10--H. [SEC 1/22/10 11:55 AM] 13 Read the first time February 10, 2009. 14 15</p><p>[3468-2] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A BILL 10 11 TO AMEND ARTICLE 3, CHAPTER 61, TITLE 44, CODE OF 12 LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, RELATING TO 13 EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES FOR CHILDREN, SO AS 14 TO DEFINE “MANAGER” AND “EMERGENCY MEDICAL 15 TECHNICIAN”; TO REQUIRE THE EMERGENCY MEDICAL 16 SERVICES FOR CHILDREN PROGRAM TO INCLUDE 17 GUIDELINES FOR DESIGNATION OF PEDIATRIC 18 EMERGENCY DEPARTMENTS, GUIDELINES FOR 19 DISASTER RESPONSES TO CHILDREN AND THEIR 20 FAMILIES, PEDIATRIC DISASTER PREPAREDNESS 21 TRAINING, AND PEDIATRIC SURGE DISASTER PLAN 22 STRATEGIES; TO ESTABLISH THE EMERGENCY MEDICAL 23 SERVICES FOR CHILDREN ADVISORY COMMITTEE AND 24 TO PROVIDE FOR ITS MEMBERSHIP AND PURPOSE; AND 25 TO MAKE TECHNICAL CORRECTIONS. 26 Amend Title To Conform 27 28 Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South 29 Carolina: 30 31 SECTION 1. Article 3, Chapter 61, Title 44 of the 1976 Code is 32 amended to read: 33 34 “Article 3 35 36 Emergency Medical Services for Children 37 38 Section 4461300. This article may be cited as the ‘Children’s 39 Emergency Medical Services Act.’ 40 41 Section 4461310. As used in this article: </p><p>[3468] 3 1 (1) ‘Advanced life support’ means an advanced level of 2 prehospital, interhospital, and emergency service care which 3 includes basic life support functions, cardiac monitoring, cardiac 4 defibrillation, telemetered electrocardiography, administration of 5 antiarrhythmic agents, intravenous therapy, administration of 6 specific medications, drugs and solutions, use of adjunctive 7 ventilation devices, trauma care, and other techniques and 8 procedures authorized by the department pursuant to regulations. 9 (2) ‘Basic life support’ means a basic level of prehospital care 10 which includes patient stabilization, airway clearance, 11 cardiopulmonary resuscitation, hemorrhage control, initial wound 12 care and fracture stabilization, and other techniques and procedures 13 authorized by the department pursuant to regulations. 14 (3) ‘Coordinator’ means the person coordinating the EMSC 15 Program within the Department of Health and Environmental 16 Control. 17 (4) ‘Department’ means the Division of Emergency Medical 18 Services and Trauma within the Department of Health and 19 Environmental Control. 20 (5)(4) ‘Director’ means the Director of the Department of 21 Health and Environmental Control. 22 (6)(5) ‘EMSC Program’ means the Emergency Medical 23 Services for Children Program established pursuant to this article 24 and other relevant programmatic activities conducted by the 25 department in support of appropriate treatment, transport, and 26 triage of ill or injured children. 27 (7)(6) ‘Emergency medical services personnel’ means persons 28 trained and certified or licensed to provide emergency medical 29 care, whether on a paid or volunteer basis, as part of a basic life 30 support or advanced life support prehospital emergency care 31 service or in an emergency department or pediatric critical care or 32 specialty unit in a licensed hospital. 33 (7) ‘Emergency medical technician’ or ‘EMT’ means, when 34 used in general terms for emergency medical personnel, an 35 individual possessing a valid, emergency medical technician 36 (EMT), advanced emergency medical technician (AEMT), or 37 paramedic certificate issued by the State pursuant to the provisions 38 of this article. 39 (8) ‘Manager’ means the person coordinating the EMSC 40 Program within the Department of Health and Environmental 41 Control. 42 (9) ‘Prehospital care’ means the provision of emergency 43 medical care or transportation by trained and certified or licensed</p><p>[3468] 4 1 emergency medical services personnel at the scene of an 2 emergency and while transporting sick or injured persons to a 3 medical care facility or provider. 4 5 Section 4461320. There is established within the Department 6 of Health and Environmental Control, Division of Emergency 7 Medical Services, the Emergency Medical Services and Trauma, 8 for Children Program. 9 10 Section 4461330. (A) The EMSC Program must include, but 11 is not limited to, the establishment of: 12 (1) initial and continuing education programs for emergency 13 medical services personnel that include training in the emergency 14 care of infants and children; 15 (2) guidelines for referring children to the appropriate 16 emergency treatment facility; 17 (3) pediatric equipment guidelines for prehospital care and 18 emergency department; 19 (4) guidelines for basic EMT, intermediate AEMT, and 20 paramedic emergency medical technician certification for 21 administering epinephrine to children suffering from a severe 22 allergic reaction; 23 (5) pediatric equipment guidelines for emergency 24 departments guidelines for the voluntary designation of pediatric 25 emergency departments; 26 (6) guidelines for pediatric trauma centers; 27 (7) an interhospital transfer system for critically ill or injured 28 children; 29 (8) in conjunction with the South Carolina Data Oversight 30 Council, the collection and analysis of statewide pediatric 31 emergency and critical care medical services data from emergency 32 and critical care medical services for the purpose of quality 33 improvement by these facilities and services, subject to the 34 confidentiality requirements of Section 4461350; 35 (9) injury prevention programs for parents; 36 (10) public education programs on accessing the emergency 37 medical services system and what to do until the emergency 38 medical services personnel arrive; 39 (11) guidelines for the appropriate response to children and 40 their families before, during, and after a disaster; 41 (12) incorporation of pediatric disaster preparedness training 42 into initial and continuing education programs for emergency 43 medical services personnel;</p><p>[3468] 5 1 (13) assistance with the development of disaster plan 2 strategies that address pediatric surge capacity before, during, and 3 after a disaster for both injured and noninjured children. 4 (B) In gathering statewide pediatric emergency and critical care 5 medical services data, the department shall rely upon, to the extent 6 possible, data from existing sources; however, the department 7 may contact families and physicians for the purpose of gathering 8 additional data and providing information on available public and 9 private resources. Information requested from a physician’s office 10 must be obtained pursuant to Chapter 115. Patient contact 11 following data received from the State Budget and Control Board, 12 Office of Research and Statistics must be conducted in accordance 13 with regulations approved by the South Carolina Data Oversight 14 Council and promulgated by the Office of Research and Statistics. 15 16 Section 44-61-340. (A) The identities of patients, emergency 17 and critical care medical services personnel, and emergency and 18 critical care medical services facilities mentioned, referenced, or 19 otherwise appearing in information or data collected or prepared 20 by or in connection with the EMSC Program must be treated as 21 strictly confidential. The identities of these persons or entities are 22 not available to the public under the Freedom of Information Act 23 or discoverable or admissible in any administrative, civil, or 24 criminal proceeding. An individual in attendance at any such 25 proceeding may not be required to testify as to the identity of any 26 such person or entity. No person, medical facility, or other 27 organization providing or releasing information in accordance with 28 this article may be held liable in a civil or criminal action for 29 divulging confidential information unless the individual or 30 organization acted in bad faith or with malicious purpose. 31 (B) The identity of a patient, physician, or hospital is 32 confidential and may not be released except that the identity of a 33 patient may be released upon informed written consent of the 34 patient or the patient’s legal guardian or legal representative; the 35 identity of a physician may be released upon written consent of the 36 physician; and the identity of a hospital may be released upon 37 written consent of the hospital. 38 (C) Information Except as otherwise authorized in this section, 39 patient information must not be released except to: 40 (1) appropriate staff of the Division of Emergency Medical 41 Services and Trauma within the Department of Health and 42 Environmental Control, South Carolina Data Oversight Council,</p><p>[3468] 6 1 and State Budget and Control Board, Office of Research and 2 Statistics; 3 (2) submitting hospitals or their designees; 4 (3) a person engaged in an approved research project, except 5 that no information identifying a subject of a report or a reporter 6 may be made available to a researcher unless consent is obtained 7 pursuant to this section. 8 (D) For purposes of maintaining the data base collected 9 pursuant to this article, the department and the Office of Research 10 and Statistics may both access and provide access to appropriate 11 confidential data reported in accordance with Section 446170. 12 (E) A person subject to this article who intentionally fails to 13 comply with reporting, confidentiality, or disclosure requirements 14 of this article is subject to a civil penalty of not more than one 15 hundred dollars for a violation the first time a person fails to 16 comply and not more than five thousand dollars for a subsequent 17 violation. 18 19 Section 4461350. (A) There is established the Emergency 20 Medical Services for Children Advisory Committee to advise the 21 department on matters concerning preventative, prehospital, 22 hospital, rehabilitative, and other posthospital medical care for 23 children. 24 (B) Committee members must be appointed by the Director of 25 the Department of Health and Environmental Control. 26 (C) Members of the committee must include, but are not 27 limited to, a nurse with emergency pediatric experience, a 28 physician with pediatric training, a board certified pediatric 29 emergency medicine physician, an emergency physician, an 30 EMT/paramedic who is currently practicing, a ground level 31 prehospital provider representative, an emergency medical services 32 state agency representative, the EMSC Program principal 33 investigator, the EMSC Program manager, and a family 34 representative. All members must reside and, if applicable, be 35 licensed or certified to practice in this State.” 36 37 SECTION 2. This act takes effect upon approval by the 38 Governor. 39 XX 40</p><p>[3468] 7</p>