BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 2260
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 27, 2016
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Lorena Gonzalez, Chair
AB
2260 (Wood) - As Amended April 5, 2016
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Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: NoReimbursable: No
SUMMARY:
This bill requires the Emergency Medical Services Authority
(EMSA), before January 1, 2018, to determine a single set of
data elements and formatting for air ambulance providers to
submit to local emergency medical services agencies (LEMSAs).
It also requires stakeholder involvement in the development of
data elements, prohibits LEMSAs from requesting additional data
AB 2260
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beyond the single data set, and requires providers to submit
data to EMSA if requested.
FISCAL EFFECT:
1)One-time GF cost pressure for staff and consulting costs of
$100,000 per year for two years, to support the stakeholder
and regulatory process to create standardized data elements.
2)If EMSA's Information Technology (IT) systems need to be
modified in order to handle increased data reporting as a
result developing standardized data elements specific to air
ambulance providers, potential GF cost pressure in the range
of $350,000 for IT changes. The current California EMSA
Information System (CEMSIS) is already compatible with
national standards, but may need to be customized to allow
additional data elements to be reported. This cost estimate is
approximate; the need for IT changes, the extent of changes,
and the corresponding costs would depend on the outcome of the
data standardization effort required by this bill.
COMMENTS:
1)Purpose. According to the author, air ambulance providers are
essential EMS providers who provide services on a regional or
statewide basis, crossing county and local EMS authority lines
on a regular basis. These providers must submit incident and
patient data information to the LEMSA with jurisdiction over
each service call, which could be multiple jurisdictions.
This bill seeks to standardize data collection in order to
streamline reporting for all stakeholders, and allow for
better aggregation and comparability of data. This bill is
sponsored by the California Association of Air Medical
Services and has no opposition.
AB 2260
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2)Background. EMSA provides leadership in developing and
implementing EMS systems throughout California and setting
standards for the training and scope of practice of various
levels of EMS personnel. EMSA also has responsibility for
promoting disaster medical preparedness and coordinating the
state's disaster medical response. The 33 LEMSAs throughout
the state are responsible for day-to-day management of the
local EMS systems.
Prehospital data collection and an emphasis on quality
improvement is an area of focus of EMSA, who is working to
increase and improve LEMSA and state EMS data capacities and
capabilities, and to standardize the collection of prehospital
data in LEMSAs.
3)Prior Legislation.
a) AB 1129 (Burke), Chapter 377, Statutes of 2015,
requires an EMS provider, when collecting and sharing
data with a LEMSA, to use a system compatible with state
and national standards.
b) AB 1621 (Lowenthal) of 2014, required EMSA to adopt
a single statewide standard for the collection of
information regarding pre-hospital care, required EMSA to
develop standards for electronic patient care records
systems used by LEMSAs and local pre-hospital EMS
providers to ensure compatibility, and required LEMSAs to
submit patient information to EMSA utilizing the single
statewide standard in a timely manner. AB 1621 was held
on the Suspense File of the Senate Appropriations
Committee.
AB 2260
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Analysis Prepared by:Lisa Murawski / APPR. / (916)
319-2081