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Provisions of Kentucky's 2008 law regulating medical alert systems, also known as Personal Emergency Response Systems (PERS) takes effect January 1, 2009.  It is believed to be the only law in the U.S. directly targeting how medical alert companies must handle alerts, or what must be provided in their contracts.  It is named the Christine Talley Act, after a Kentucky woman who pressed her Lifeline alarm button after suffering a heart attack in 2007.  Lifeline left messages for relatives, but allegedly failed to contact emergency responders until much later, after it was too late.  This led to calls for regulatory oversight of the industry.  

As of January 1, 2009, new contracts for PERS service must:

• Let the customer designate 911 as the first place to be called if the customer signals for help. The contract must include a clear disclosure of this right, signed or checked by the customer.
• Let the customer choose the order for contacting those on the call list if the customer signals for help.
• Let the customer specify that 911 be called if the customer does not verbally respond when the PERS provider checks with the customer after receiving a signal for help.
• Provide that if the customer does not designate 911 as the first call, 911 will by default be called after the PERS provider has tried without success to contact the people on the customer's call list.
• Require the PERS provider to give certain information to 911 when calling there (i.e., name, location).
• Provide that after calling 911 the PERS provider must try to contact the people on the call list unless the customer gives other verbal directions at that time.