For purposes of this Chapter, the following terms have the meaning ascribed to them in this Section:

            (1) “Advanced life support” or “ALS” means the provision of medically necessary supplies and services by EMS practitioners who are licensed at least to the level of advanced emergency technician or equivalent.

            (2) “Air ambulance” means any aircraft, either fixed-wing or rotary-winged, designed and operated as a part of a regular course of conduct or business to transport a sick or injured individual or which is advertised or otherwise held out to the public as such.

            (3) “Air ambulance service” means any person, firm, association, or government entity owning, controlling, or operating any business or service which furnishes, operates, conducts, maintains, advertises, engages in, proposes to engage in, or professes to engage in the business or service of transporting, in air ambulances, individuals who may need medical attention during transport.

            (4) “Ambulance” means any authorized emergency vehicle, equipped with warning devices, designed and operated as a part of a regular course of conduct or business to transport a sick or injured individual or which is advertised or otherwise held out to the public as such. “Ambulance” shall not mean a hearse or other funeral home vehicle utilized for the transportation of the dead.

            (5)(a) “Ambulance service” or “ambulance provider” means any person, firm, association, or government entity owning, controlling, or operating any business or service which furnishes, operates, conducts, maintains, advertises, engages in, proposes to engage in, or professes to engage in the business or service of transporting, in ambulances, individuals who may need medical attention during transport. Such transport may be made, based on approved protocols, to an alternative destination when the individual’s condition does not meet the definition of emergency medical condition pursuant to La. Rev. Stat. 22:1821(D)(2)(g)(i). However, no person shall be transported to an alternative destination unless he consents to being transported to that destination, and no ambulance service shall transport a person to an alternative destination in which the ambulance service has a financial interest.

            (b) For purposes of this Chapter,”ambulance service” and “ambulance provider” shall not include any of the following:

            (i) An agency of the federal government.

            (ii) A volunteer nonprofit organization or municipal nonprofit organization operating an invalid coach or coaches.

            (iii) An entity rendering assistance to a licensed ambulance or ambulances in the case of a major disaster.

            (iv) A licensed hospital providing nonemergency, noncritical interhospital transfer and patient transportation for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes when such transportation originates at a licensed hospital.

            (v) An entity operating an ambulance or ambulances from a location outside of the state to transport patients from a location outside of the state to a location inside the state or to transport a patient or patients from a medical facility inside of the state to a location outside of the state.

            (vi) An entity providing transportation to employees who become sick or injured during the course of their employment from a job site to the nearest appropriate medical facility.

            (6) “Auto-injector” means a portable, disposable drug delivery device that contains a measured, single dose of epinephrine that is used to treat a person suffering a potentially life-threatening anaphylactic reaction.

            (7) “Basic life support” or “BLS” means the provision of medically necessary supplies and services by EMS practitioners who are licensed at least to the level of emergency medical technician.

            (8) “Bureau” means the Louisiana Department of Health, bureau of emergency medical services.

            (9) “Certified ambulance operator” means an individual who is certified by the bureau as a certified ambulance operator. The term shall not include any individual employed by a fire department of any municipality, parish, or fire protection district or any volunteer firefighter of the state of Louisiana.

            (10) “Commission” means the Louisiana Emergency Medical Services Certification Commission.

            (11) “Department” means the Louisiana Department of Health.

            (12) “Emergency medical response vehicle” means a marked emergency vehicle with fully visual and audible warning signals operated by a certified ambulance service, the primary purpose of which is to respond to the scene of a medical emergency to provide emergency medical stabilization or support, or command, control, and communications, but which is not an ambulance designed or intended for the purpose of transporting a victim from the scene to a medical facility regardless of its designation. Included are such vehicles referred to but not limited to the designation as “sprint car”, “quick response vehicle”, “special response vehicle”, “triage trucks”, “staff cars”, “supervisor units”, and other similar designations. Emergency medical response vehicles shall not include fire apparatus and law enforcement patrol vehicles which carry first aid or emergency medical supplies and which respond to medical emergencies as part of their routine duties.

            (13) “Emergency medical services” or “EMS” means a system that represents the combined efforts of several professionals and agencies to provide prehospital emergency care to the sick and injured.

            (14) “EMS medical director” means a physician licensed by the Louisiana State Board of Medical Examiners who has responsibility and authority to ensure quality of care and provide guidance for all medical aspects of EMS. 

            (15) “EMS practitioner” means an individual who is a licensed emergency medical responder, licensed emergency medical technician, licensed advanced emergency medical technician, or a licensed paramedic.

            (16) “EMS task force” means the Emergency Medical Services Task Force, composed of individuals subject to the approval of the secretary of the department, which advises and makes recommendations to the bureau of emergency medical services and the department on matters related to emergency medical services.

            (17) “Industrial ambulance” means any vehicle owned and operated by an industrial facility and used for transporting any employee who becomes sick, injured, or otherwise incapacitated in the course and scope of his employment from a job site to an appropriate medical facility.

            (18) “Licensed emergency medical responder” means any individual who has successfully completed an emergency medical responder education program based on National EMS Education Standards approved by the bureau and who is licensed by the bureau.

            (19) “Licensed emergency medical services practitioner” means an individual who is a licensed emergency medical responder or who is nationally registered, who has successfully completed an emergency medical services practitioner education program based on national EMS education standards, and who is licensed as any one of the following:

            (a) A licensed emergency medical technician.

            (b) A licensed advanced emergency medical technician.

            (c) A licensed paramedic.

            (20) “Moral turpitude” means an act of baseness, vileness, or depravity in the duties which one person owes another, or to society in general, which is contrary to the usual, accepted, and customary rule of right and duty which a person should follow.

            (21) “Municipal nonprofit organization” means an organization owned by a parish, municipality, or entity of a parish or municipality which in its regular course of business responds to a call for help and renders medical treatment and whose attendants are emergency medical personnel, a registered nurse, or a physician.

            (22) “National EMS education standards” means the document that outlines current nationally recognized EMS education standards, has been adopted by the bureau, and defines terminal objectives for each nationally defined EMS licensing level.

            (23) “Physician” means a physician licensed to practice medicine by the Louisiana State Board of Medical Examiners.

            (24) “Public safety agency” means a functional division of a public or private agency which provides firefighting, police, medical, or other emergency services.

            (25) “Public safety telecommunicator” means an individual answering 911 emergency medical condition calls on behalf of a public safety agency who has authority, based on a protocol adopted by the agency, to provide telephone cardiopulmonary resuscitation (T-CPR) instructions to a caller before arrival of professional medical assistance by first responders.

            (26) “Volunteer nonprofit organization” means an organization which in its regular course of business responds to a call for help and renders medical treatment and whose attendants are emergency medical personnel, a registered nurse, or a physician and which is chartered as a nonprofit organization under Section 501c of the United States Internal Revenue Code, as a volunteer fire department by the Louisiana state fire marshal’s office, or as a nonprofit organization by the Louisiana secretary of state.

            Amended by Acts 1968, No. 278, §1; Acts 1976, No. 393, §1; Acts 1977, No. 626, §1; Acts 1978, No. 469, §1; Acts 1978, No. 786, §5, eff. July 17, 1978; Acts 1979, No. 554, §1; Acts 1985, No. 750, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 1987; Acts 1991, No. 974, §1, eff. July 24, 1991; Acts 1997, No. 297, §2; Acts 1997, No. 913, §2; Acts 1999, No. 1113, §1; Acts 1999, No. 1114, §1; Acts 2001, No. 385, §1; Acts 2001, No. 625, §2; Acts 2003, No. 208, §1; Acts 2012, No. 789, §2, eff. June 13, 2012; Redesignated from La. Rev. Stat. 40:1231 by HCR 84 of 2015 R.S.; Acts 2017, No. 106, §1, eff. June 12, 2017; Acts 2018, No. 565, §2; Acts 2018, No. 578, §1; Acts 2022, No. 644, §1.