Utah municipalities must run RFPs, hold public reviews under Senate Bill 215 to select ambulance providers

Salt Lake City — Utah counties and incorporated municipalities must issue a public request for proposal and hold an open meeting to select 911 ambulance and non-emergency interfacility transport providers under Senate Bill 215, which took effect May 7, the Utah Bureau of Emergency Medical Services told local officials in a May webinar.

The requirement applies to both emergency 911 transport—where a dispatched EMS agency provides emergency medical care and transport to a hospital—and interfacility transport, or IFT, which is the transfer of a patient without an emergency medical condition from one licensed facility to another, Kate Carlson, program manager at the Utah Bureau of Emergency Medical Services, said. “We’re going to talk a little bit today about Senate Bill 215,” Carlson said.

The nut graf: The law removes the old, ambiguous “needs and necessities” licensing category and places responsibility for selecting both 911 and interfacility transport providers with counties and municipalities. Local governments must publish an RFP, review respondents against locally adopted cost, quality and access goals, choose providers in an open public meeting at least three months before an agency’s license expires, and provide a signed letter of support to…