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Legislature authorizes Certificate of Need application to add paramedic capability to Rapid Medical Response
Summary
The legislature authorized staff to apply for a countywide Certificate of Need for Advanced Life Support to enhance the Rapid Medical Response program, adopting a clarifying amendment that limited the CON's immediate purpose to adding ALS capability to the existing RMR units; vote passed after amendment.
The legislature authorized the Department of Emergency Response to submit a countywide application for a Certificate of Need (CON) to provide Advanced Life Support (ALS) capabilities for the county's Rapid Medical Response (RMR) program. Emergency Response Director Mike Stitely told the chamber the CON is required if the county wants paramedic-level capability in RMR units and that the CON process can take six to eight months.
Members debated whether the authorization should be broadened to allow ambulance transport or limited to enhancing the existing RMR first-response capability. Legislator Lee Shurtleff offered an amendment clarifying the intent: to obtain a CON "for advanced life support to enhance the existing Rapid Medical Response program." Staff and the director said the amendment matched the department's near-term purpose and that if the county later chose to add ambulance transport it would return to the legislature for further authorization. With the amendment in place the resolution passed (announced on the floor as passing with the amended language).
