Sec. 19a-177. (Formerly Sec. 19-73w). Duties of commissioner. - Connecticut Statutes

      Sec. 19a-177. (Formerly Sec. 19-73w). Duties of commissioner. The commissioner shall:

      (1) With the advice of the Office of Emergency Medical Services established pursuant to section 19a-178 and of an advisory committee on emergency medical services and with the benefit of meetings held pursuant to subsection (b) of section 19a-184, adopt every five years a state-wide plan for the coordinated delivery of emergency medical services;

      (2) License or certify the following: (A) Ambulance operations, ambulance drivers, emergency medical technicians and communications personnel; (B) emergency room facilities and communications facilities; and (C) transportation equipment, including land, sea and air vehicles used for transportation of patients to emergency facilities and periodically inspect life saving equipment, emergency facilities and emergency transportation vehicles to insure that state standards are maintained;

      (3) Annually inventory emergency medical services resources within the state, including facilities, equipment, and personnel, for the purposes of determining the need for additional services and the effectiveness of existing services;

      (4) Review and evaluate all area-wide plans developed by the emergency medical services councils pursuant to section 19a-182 in order to insure conformity with standards issued by the commissioner;

      (5) Within thirty days of their receipt, review all grant and contract applications for federal or state funds concerning emergency medical services or related activities for conformity to policy guidelines and forward such application to the appropriate agency, when required;

      (6) Establish such minimum standards and adopt such regulations in accordance with the provisions of chapter 54, as may be necessary to develop the following components of an emergency medical service system: (A) Communications, which shall include, but not be limited to, equipment, radio frequencies and operational procedures; (B) transportation services, which shall include, but not be limited to, vehicle type, design, condition and maintenance, life saving equipment and operational procedure; (C) training, which shall include, but not be limited to, emergency medical technicians, communications personnel, paraprofessionals associated with emergency medical services, firefighters and state and local police; and (D) emergency medical service facilities, which shall include, but not be limited to, categorization of emergency departments as to their treatment capabilities and ancillary services;

      (7) Coordinate training of all personnel related to emergency medical services;

      (8) (A) Not later than October 1, 2001, develop or cause to be developed a data collection system that will follow a patient from initial entry into the emergency medical service system through arrival at the emergency room and, within available appropriations, may expand the data collection system to include clinical treatment and patient outcome data. The commissioner shall, on a quarterly basis, collect the following information from each licensed ambulance service or certified ambulance service that provides emergency medical services: (i) The total number of calls for emergency medical services received by such licensed ambulance service or certified ambulance service through the 9-1-1 system during the reporting period; (ii) each level of emergency medical services, as defined in regulations adopted pursuant to section 19a-179, required for each such call; (iii) the response time for each licensed ambulance service or certified ambulance service during the reporting period; (iv) the number of passed calls, cancelled calls and mutual aid calls during the reporting period; and (v) for the reporting period, the prehospital data for the nonscheduled transport of patients required by regulations adopted pursuant to subdivision (6) of this section. The information required under this subdivision may be submitted in any written or electronic form selected by such licensed ambulance service or certified ambulance service and approved by the commissioner, provided the commissioner shall take into consideration the needs of such licensed ambulance service or certified ambulance service in approving such written or electronic form. The commissioner may conduct an audit of any such licensed ambulance service or certified ambulance service as the commissioner deems necessary in order to verify the accuracy of such reported information.

      (B) The commissioner shall prepare a report that shall include, but not be limited to, the following information: (i) The total number of calls for emergency medical services received during the reporting year by each licensed ambulance service or certified ambulance service; (ii) the level of emergency medical services required for each such call; (iii) the name of the provider of each such level of emergency medical services furnished during the reporting year; (iv) the response time, by time ranges or fractile response times, for each licensed ambulance service or certified ambulance service, using a common definition of response time, as provided in regulations adopted pursuant to section 19a-179; and (v) the number of passed calls, cancelled calls and mutual aid calls during the reporting year. The commissioner shall prepare such report in a format that categorizes such information for each municipality in which the emergency medical services were provided, with each such municipality grouped according to urban, suburban and rural classifications. Not later than March 31, 2002, and annually thereafter, the commissioner shall submit such report to the joint standing committee of the General Assembly having cognizance of matters relating to public health, shall make such report available to the public and shall post such report on the Department of Public Health web site on the Internet.

      (C) If any licensed ambulance service or certified ambulance service does not submit the information required under subparagraph (A) of this subdivision for a period of six consecutive months, or if the commissioner believes that such licensed ambulance service or certified ambulance service knowingly or intentionally submitted incomplete or false information, the commissioner shall issue a written order directing such licensed ambulance service or certified ambulance service to comply with the provisions of subparagraph (A) of this subdivision and submit all missing information or such corrected information as the commissioner may require. If such licensed ambulance service or certified ambulance service fails to fully comply with such order not later than three months from the date such order is issued, the commissioner (i) shall conduct a hearing, in accordance with chapter 54, at which such licensed ambulance service or certified ambulance service shall be required to show cause why the primary service area assignment of such licensed ambulance service or certified ambulance service should not be revoked, and (ii) may take such disciplinary action under section 19a-17 as the commissioner deems appropriate.

      (D) On and after October 1, 2006, the commissioner shall collect the information required by subparagraph (A) of this subdivision, in the manner provided in said subparagraph, from each person or emergency medical service organization licensed or certified under section 19a-180 that provides emergency medical services. On and after October 1, 2006, such information shall be included in the annual report prepared by the commissioner in accordance with subparagraph (B) of this subdivision and such person or emergency medical service organization shall be subject to the provisions of subparagraph (C) of this subdivision;

      (9) (A) Establish rates for the conveyance of patients by licensed ambulance services and invalid coaches and establish emergency service rates for certified ambulance services, provided (i) the present rates established for such services and vehicles shall remain in effect until such time as the commissioner establishes a new rate schedule as provided in this subdivision, and (ii) any rate increase not in excess of the Medical Care Services Consumer Price Index, as published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the United States Department of Labor, for the prior year, filed in accordance with subparagraph (B)(iii) of this subdivision shall be deemed approved by the commissioner.

      (B) Adopt regulations, in accordance with the provisions of chapter 54, establishing methods for setting rates and conditions for charging such rates. Such regulations shall include, but not be limited to, provisions requiring that on and after July 1, 2000: (i) Requests for rate increases may be filed no more frequently than once a year, except that, in any case where an agency's schedule of maximum allowable rates falls below that of the Medicare allowable rates for that agency, the commissioner shall immediately amend such schedule so that the rates are at or above the Medicare allowable rates; (ii) only licensed ambulance services and certified ambulance services that apply for a rate increase in excess of the Medical Care Services Consumer Price Index, as published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the United States Department of Labor, for the prior year, and do not accept the maximum allowable rates contained in any voluntary state-wide rate schedule established by the commissioner for the rate application year shall be required to file detailed financial information with the commissioner, provided any hearing that the commissioner may hold concerning such application shall be conducted as a contested case in accordance with chapter 54; (iii) licensed ambulance services and certified ambulance services that do not apply for a rate increase in any year in excess of the Medical Care Services Consumer Price Index, as published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the United States Department of Labor, for the prior year, or that accept the maximum allowable rates contained in any voluntary state-wide rate schedule established by the commissioner for the rate application year shall, not later than July fifteenth of such year, file with the commissioner a statement of emergency and nonemergency call volume, and, in the case of a licensed ambulance service or certified ambulance service that is not applying for a rate increase, a written declaration by such licensed ambulance service or certified ambulance service that no change in its currently approved maximum allowable rates will occur for the rate application year; and (iv) detailed financial and operational information filed by licensed ambulance services and certified ambulance services to support a request for a rate increase in excess of the Medical Care Services Consumer Price Index, as published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the United States Department of Labor, for the prior year, shall cover the time period pertaining to the most recently completed fiscal year and the rate application year of the licensed ambulance service or certified ambulance service.

      (C) Establish rates for licensed ambulance services and certified ambulance services for the following services and conditions: (i) "Advanced life support assessment" and "specialty care transports", which terms shall have the meaning provided in 42 CFR 414.605; and (ii) intramunicipality mileage, which means mileage for an ambulance transport when the point of origin and final destination for a transport is within the boundaries of the same municipality. The rates established by the commissioner for each such service or condition shall be equal to (I) the ambulance service's base rate plus its established advanced life support/paramedic surcharge when advanced life support assessment services are performed; (II) two hundred twenty-five per cent of the ambulance service's established base rate for specialty care transports; and (III) "loaded mileage", as the term is defined in 42 CFR 414.605, multiplied by the ambulance service's established rate for intramunicipality mileage. Such rates shall remain in effect until such time as the commissioner establishes a new rate schedule as provided in this subdivision;

      (10) Research, develop, track and report on appropriate quantifiable outcome measures for the state's emergency medical services system and submit to the joint standing committee of the General Assembly having cognizance of matters relating to public health, in accordance with the provisions of section 11-4a, on or before July 1, 2002, and annually thereafter, a report on the progress toward the development of such outcome measures and, after such outcome measures are developed, an analysis of emergency medical services system outcomes;

      (11) Establish primary service areas and assign in writing a primary service area responder for each primary service area; and

      (12) Revoke primary services area assignments upon determination by the commissioner that it is in the best interests of patient care to do so.

      (P.A. 74-305, S. 3, 19; P.A. 75-112, S. 3, 18; P.A. 77-268, S. 3; P.A. 78-331, S. 12, 58; P.A. 80-480, S. 1, 3; P.A. 87-420, S. 4, 14; P.A. 98-195, S. 5; P.A. 00-151, S. 2, 14; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 01-4, S. 51, 58; May 9 Sp. Sess. P.A. 02-7, S. 47; P.A. 03-46, S. 1; P.A. 04-221, S. 39; P.A. 05-272, S. 17.)

      History: P.A. 75-112 replaced "commission", i.e. commission on hospitals and health care, with "commissioner", i.e. commissioner of health; P.A. 77-268 replaced "b" agencies with "health systems" agencies and added reference to "benefit of meetings held pursuant to subsection (b) of section 19-73ee" in development and update of state-wide plan; P.A. 78-331 replaced reference to Sec. 19-73ee with reference to Sec. 19-73ff; P.A. 80-480 amended Subsec. (i) to replace conveyance "in commercial ambulance vehicles" with more specific reference to conveyance "by licensed ambulance services" and added provisions re establishment of emergency service rate for certified ambulance services and re adoption of regulations concerning rates; Sec. 19-73w transferred to Sec. 19a-177 in 1983; P.A. 87-420 substituted "emergency medical services councils" for "health systems agencies" in Subdivs. (a), (c) and (k); P.A. 98-195 changed Subsec. designations to Subdivs., amended Subdiv. (1) by adding advice of the Office of Emergency Medical Services and changing annually updated plan to one adopted every five years, deleted specified contents of the plan, added new Subdiv. (2) re licensure, certification and inspections, deleted former Subsec. (h) re education programs, deleted former Subsec. (j) re annual reports to the General Assembly and Governor and Subsec. (k) re plans for regions without an emergency medical services council and made technical changes; P.A. 00-151 made technical changes, amended Subdiv. (8) by revising and adding provisions re the collection and reporting of information, amended Subdiv. (9) by adding requirements for regulations re rate increases and schedules applicable on and after July 1, 2000, and added new Subdivs. (10) to (12) re outcome measures and the establishment, assignment and revocation of primary service areas, effective July 1, 2000; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 01-4 amended Subdiv. (9) by adding provision re rate increase not in excess of the National Health Care Inflation Rate Index in Subpara. (A) and provisions re rate increase in excess of the National Health Care Inflation Rate Index and re hearing conducted as contested case in Subpara. (B), effective July 1, 2001; May 9 Sp. Sess. P.A. 02-7 amended Subdiv. (9) by replacing references to "National Health Care Inflation Rate Index" with "Medical Care Services Consumer Price Index", and added new Subpara. (C) re the establishment of rates for licensed ambulance services and certified ambulance services for "advanced life support assessment" and "specialty care transports", as defined, and intramunicipality mileage, as defined, and set out the factors to be considered by the commissioner in establishing the rates for each such service or condition and specified that the rates shall remain in effect until the commissioner establishes a new rate schedule, effective August 15, 2002; P.A. 03-46 amended Subdiv. (9)(B)(iii) by deleting requirement re submission of audited financial statement or accountant's review report by certain ambulance services; P.A. 04-221 amended Subdiv. (8)(A) by adding authority to expand data collection system to include clinical treatment and patient outcome data; P.A. 05-272 amended Subdiv. (9) by making technical changes and by amending Subpara. (B)(i) to authorize the commissioner to amend an agency's schedule of maximum allowable rates whenever such rates fall below that of the Medicare allowable rates for that agency, effective July 13, 2005.

      Annotation to former section 19-73w:

      Cited. 35 CS 136.