FIRST REGULAR SESSION
HOUSE COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR
92ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY
Reported from the Committee on Local Government April 15, 2003, with recommendation that the House Committee Substitute for Senate Bill No. 370 Do Pass by Consent.
STEPHEN S. DAVIS, Chief Clerk
AN ACT
To repeal sections 44.090 and 190.243, RSMo, and to enact in lieu thereof two new sections relating to emergency mutual-aid agreements.
Section A. Sections 44.090 and 190.243, RSMo, are repealed and two new sections enacted in lieu thereof, to be known as sections 44.090 and 190.243, to read as follows:
44.090. 1. The executive officer of any political subdivision[, with the approval of the governor,] may enter into mutual-aid arrangements or agreements with other public and private agencies within and without the state for reciprocal emergency aid. Such arrangements or agreements shall be consistent with the state disaster plan and program and the provisions of section 70.837, RSMo, and section 320.090, RSMo. In time of emergency it shall be the duty of each local organization for emergency management to render assistance in accordance with the provisions of such mutual-aid arrangements or agreements.
2. The coordinator of each local organization for emergency management may assist in negotiation of reciprocal mutual-aid agreements between his organization and other public and private agencies and between the governor and the adjoining states or political subdivisions thereof, and shall carry out arrangements or agreements relating to the local unit.
190.243. 1. Severely injured patients shall be transported to a trauma center. A physician or registered nurse authorized by a physician who has established verbal communication with ambulance personnel shall instruct the ambulance personnel to transport a severely injured patient to the closest hospital or designated trauma center, as determined according to estimated transport time whether by ground ambulance or air ambulance, in accordance with transport protocol approved by the medical director and the department of health and senior services, even when the hospital is located outside of the ambulance service's primary service area. When initial transport from the scene of injury to a trauma center would be prolonged, the severely injured patient may be transported to the nearest appropriate facility for stabilization prior to transport to a trauma center.
2. Transport of the severely injured patient shall be governed by principles of timely and medically appropriate care; consideration of reimbursement mechanisms shall not supersede those principles.
3. Patients who are not severely injured shall be transported to and cared for at the hospital of their choice so long as such ambulance service is not in violation of local protocols.
4. A licensed ground ambulance service may transport patients from a licensed hospital to a licensed hospital within their service area in political subdivisions that have entered into a reciprocal emergency aid agreement.