Delaware Code Title 16 Sec. 9814 – Statewide paramedic funding program
(a) The statewide paramedic funding program is hereby established for the purpose of participating with the counties in the financing of the statewide paramedic program.
Terms Used In Delaware Code Title 16 Sec. 9814
- Administrator: shall mean the program chief of the paramedic services responsible for advanced life support and the administration of the Delaware Paramedic Services Act;
(2) "Advanced life support" (ALS) shall have the same definition as is set forth in Chapter 97 of this title;
(3) "Basic life support" (BLS) shall have the same definition as is set forth in Chapter 97 of this title;
(4) "Board" shall mean the Board of Medical Licensure and Discipline;
(5) "Certification" means original certification as a paramedic by the Board of Medical Licensure and Discipline. See Delaware Code Title 16 Sec. 9802
- Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
- Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
- Department: shall mean the Delaware Department of Health and Social Services;
(11) "Emergency medical services (EMS) provider" shall mean individual providers certified by the Delaware State Fire Prevention Commission or the Office of EMS, or emergency medical dispatchers certified by the National Academy of Emergency Medical Dispatch. See Delaware Code Title 16 Sec. 9802
- Devise: To gift property by will.
- Director: means the Director of the Division of Public Health, or such persons as may be designated by the Director. See Delaware Code Title 16 Sec. 101
- Division: means the Division of Public Health. See Delaware Code Title 16 Sec. 101
- Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
- Office: shall mean the Office of Emergency Medical Services, of the Division of Public Health, Department of Health and Social Services;
(18) "Paramedic staff hour" shall mean 1 full hour of a paramedic on duty. See Delaware Code Title 16 Sec. 9802
- Secretary: means the Secretary of the Department of Health and Social Services or such persons as may be designated by the Secretary. See Delaware Code Title 16 Sec. 101
- State: means the State of Delaware; and when applied to different parts of the United States, it includes the District of Columbia and the several territories and possessions of the United States. See Delaware Code Title 1 Sec. 302
- Year: means a calendar year, and is equivalent to the words "year of our Lord. See Delaware Code Title 1 Sec. 302
(b) The operational costs of the minimum paramedic staff hours established for each county in § 9803(c) of this title shall be shared by the State and county with the State providing 30 percent of the cost and the county providing 70 percent beginning in Fiscal Year 2010.
(c) A county will not be eligible for its 30 percent state share until such time as the rules, regulations, procedures, protocols and approvals required by this chapter have been completed or July 1, 1990, whichever is later. The date of approval by the Department of a county program shall be the starting date in terms of eligibility for state share funding. No county programs will be funded retroactively and the Department shall not unreasonably withhold or delay any approval. The Secretary shall not encumber any of the state funds applied for by a county until such county has appropriated its proportional share of funding.
(d) The General Assembly shall appropriate annually an amount sufficient to reimburse 30 percent of approved costs of the statewide paramedic program; this appropriation shall be made in the annual Grants-In-Aid Act and shall be appropriated to the Office of Emergency Medical Services, Division of Public Health, Department of Health and Social Services, which shall serve as the State’s fiscal agent for distributing the funds in accordance with this chapter to counties that operate approved programs. The appropriation in the Grants-In-Aid Act of the state share of the paramedic funding program shall not be subject to the limitation in § 6533(f) of Title 29.
(e) Funds distributed to a county for the purpose of supporting a county component of the statewide paramedic system may be used for direct operating costs or as debt service and financing for bond issuance for that purpose. For those capital projects with a total cost greater than $200,000, the State shall reimburse on a debt service basis. In no instance shall reimbursement include the cost of indirect services provided by the county.
(f) The Office shall promulgate regulations for the distribution of the funds appropriated pursuant to this chapter to the counties that provide for reimbursement on a quarterly basis.
(g) Funds appropriated pursuant to this section may not be used to fund basic life support services. To the extent that a county or its subcontractor operates integrated advanced and basic life support services, the Office shall devise a methodology to separate costs and shall provide reimbursement accordingly.
(h) The Office shall report on the applications, expenditures, and uses of the statewide paramedic funding program annually as part of the budgetary process of the Department.
(i) The Delaware Paramedic Budget Review package shall be submitted by the counties to the Paramedic Administrator by September 1 of each year. Such request shall include, but not be limited to, a detailed plan of expenditure for each county’s approved paramedic program for the subsequent fiscal year. The Paramedic Administrator shall forward copies of the counties’ requests, along with the Department’s funding recommendation to the Director of the Office of Management and Budget and the Office of the Controller General by November 1.
(j) The Office shall distribute, by contract or otherwise, all state funds used for paramedic training programs.
67 Del. Laws, c. 153, § ?1; 68 Del. Laws, c. 290, § ?124; 68 Del. Laws, c. 292, § ?19; 69 Del. Laws, c. 64, § ?144; 70 Del. Laws, c. 192, § ?10; 71 Del. Laws, c. 169, § ?21; 71 Del. Laws, c. 300, § ?6; 72 Del. Laws, c. 137, § ?18; 74 Del. Laws, c. 111, § ?31; 74 Del. Laws, c. 309, §§ ?28-30; 75 Del. Laws, c. 88, § ?21(8); 75 Del. Laws, c. 352, § ?29(a); 76 Del. Laws, c. 281, § ?29; 79 Del. Laws, c. 293, § ?34;