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21251 1 ORDINANCE NO. 21,251 2 3 AN ORDINANCE TO AMEND LITTLE ROCK, ARK., REV. CODE § 5-68 4 (1988) TO PERMIT SOME BASIC LIFE SUPPORT EMERGENCY 5 AMBULANCE RUNS IN ACCORDANCE WITH ARKANSAS STATE 6 HEALTH DEPARTMENT APPROVAL; TO DECLARE AN 7 EMERGENCY; AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES. 8 9 WHEREAS, when the City created the Little Rock, Ark., Emergency Medical Health Care Facilities 10 Board pursuant Little Rock, Ark.,Ordinance No. 14,062(June 16, 1981),to provide an all Advanced Life 11 Support(ALS)Ambulance System within the City,and in adjoining areas pursuant to Interlocal Agreement, 12 it was determined in the industry that this was the appropriate type of system to have within this community, 13 and was consistent with the best practices and national standards of other system that operated under the 14 public utility model; and, 15 WHEREAS, since the creation of this system the Little Rock Ambulance Authority, d/b/a/ 16 Metropolitan Emergency Medical Services(MEMS)has developed a significant amount of data and history 17 that has made it appropriate to review how the system currently operates, and has also had to deal with 18 significant national policy decisions that address the question of appropriate reimbursement for these 19 services;and, 20 WHEREAS, working through this information, and still desirous of following the best practices for 21 such an emergency medical system, it has been determined that some emergency ambulance runs that are 22 not life-threatening can be done more efficiently and productively with Emergency Medical Technicians 23 (EMT) instead of a required Paramedic and still provide excellent care to patients and citizens;and, 24 WHEREAS,the Arkansas State Health Department has approved MEMS for a pilot program in which 25 the current requirement of Section VI.B.I of the Emergency Medical Services(EMS) Regulation --which 26 requires that a service with multiple levels of care will respond to an emergency request with the highest 27 permitted service level available—can be modified to allow Basic Life Support(BLS) service for non-life 28 threatening emergencies; and, 29 WHEREAS, it is appropriate to permit MEMS to work through this six (6)-month trial period and 30 development information to determine whether this pilot program should result in any changes to the state 31 regulations, or MEMS service requirements,or both; 32 NOW,THEREFORE,BE IT ORDAINED BY THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF THE CITY 33 OF LITTLE ROCK,ARKANSAS: 1Page I of 31 Section 1. Little Rock, Ark., Rev. Code § 5-58 (1988) is hereby amended to add the following 2 subsection: 3 Notwithstanding any other provision of this section of the Code, the ambulance authority 4 may provide for BLS responses for non-life threatening emergencies provided that such 5 action is taken in compliance with an appropriate pilot program, or other such program, 6 authorized by the Arkansas Department of Health, is otherwise consistent with this 7 Ordinance and with the Arkansas Emergency Medical Services Regulations, is conducted 8 pursuant to clinical performance guidelines set by AEPF, Inc.,and is in place only for such 9 period of time as determined by the Arkansas Department of Health including, but not 10 limited to,any extensions granted by that Department. 11 Section 2. If, pursuant to the provisions of Section 1, a trial is conducted on such basic life support 12 emergency runs,the authority shall submit a written report to the Mayor and City Manager every three(3) 13 months which outlines the number of such runs, the aggregate run time reports for such runs, and any 14 significant achievements or problems that have arisen during this time period. 15 Section 3. Severability. In the event any title, subtitle, section, subsection, subdivision, paragraph, 16 subparagraph,item,sentence,clause,phrase,or work of this ordinance is declared or adjudged to be invalid 17 or unconstitutional,such declaration or adjudication shall not affect the remaining portions of the ordinance 18 which shall remain in full force and effect as if the portion so declared or adjudged invalid or 19 unconstitutional was not originally a part of this ordinance. 20 Section 4. Repealer. All ordinances, resolutions, or parts of the same that are inconsistent with the 21 provisions of this ordinance are hereby repealed to the extent of such inconsistency. 22 Section 5. Emergency Clause. The ability to efficiently and effective provide emergency medical 23 health services to all citizens is essential to the public health, safety, and welfare, and the ability to meet 24 the actual needs of every patient with the appropriate level of care, while still maintaining some control 25 over costs and resources, makes it possible to maintain such an important public service; this ordinance 26 permits the Little Rock Ambulance Authority to appropriate review whether some modification of the 27 current demands for care is appropriate; an emergency, therefore, is declared to exist and this ordinance 28 shall be in full force and effect from and after the date of its passage. 29 PASSED: June 7,2016 30 ATTAPPROVF ' 31 N(Wli 32 33 :u• n L= •y,City Clerk f ance Hines,Vice-Mayor 34 l Page 2 of 31 1 APPROVED AS TO LEGAL FORM: 2 3 �'`'`�,."' i ALA 4 Thomas M. Carpenter, City Attor e, 5 // 6 // 7 // 8 // 9 // 10 // 11 // 12 // 13 // 14 // 15 // 16 // 17 // 18 // 19 // 20 // 21 // 22 // 23 // 24 // 25 // 26 // 27 // 28 // 29 // 30 // 31 // 32 // 33 // 34 // 'Page 3 of 31