(a) “Triage to alternate destination program” means a program developed by a local EMS agency and approved by the Emergency Medical Services Authority to provide triage paramedic assessments consisting of one or more specialties described in this section operating under triage and assessment protocols developed by the local EMS agency that are consistent with the minimum triage and assessment protocols established by the authority. Triage paramedic assessments may consist of the following program specialties:

(1) Providing care and comfort services to hospice patients in their homes in response to 911 calls by providing for the patient’s and the family’s immediate care needs, including grief support in collaboration with the patient’s hospice agency until the hospice nurse arrives to treat the patient. This paragraph does not impact or alter existing authorities applicable to a licensed paramedic operating under the medical control policies adopted by a local EMS agency medical director to treat and keep a hospice patient in the patient’s current residence, or otherwise require transport to an acute care hospital in the absence of an approved triage to alternate destination hospice program.

(2) Providing patients with advanced life support triage and assessment by a triage paramedic and transportation to an alternate destination facility, as defined in Section 1811.

(3) Providing transport services for patients who identify as veterans and desire transport to a local veterans administration emergency department for treatment, when appropriate.

(b) This section does not prevent or eliminate any authority to provide continuous transport of a patient to a participating hospital for priority evaluation by a physician, nurse practitioner, or physician assistant before transport to an alternate destination facility.

(c) This section does not impair or otherwise interfere with an emergency medical services provider’s ability to deliver emergency medical transport services as authorized pursuant to Section 1797.224 or a city or fire district to operate pursuant to Section 1797.201.

(Added by Stats. 2020, Ch. 138, Sec. 4. (AB 1544) Effective January 1, 2021. Repealed as of January 1, 2031, pursuant to Section 1857.)