Maine Revised Statutes Title 32 Sec. 86 – Ambulance services and nontransporting medical services
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(CONTAINS TEXT WITH VARYING EFFECTIVE DATES)
1. Ambulance services and nontransporting medical services to be licensed. Every ambulance service and nontransporting emergency medical service must be licensed, operate in accordance with the rules adopted and protocols developed for services under this chapter and carry the equipment called for in those rules.
A. (TEXT EFFECTIVE UNTIL 12/31/26) (TEXT REPEALED 12/31/26) The board shall adopt rules and protocols to evaluate the need for any new ambulance service in this State before granting a license under this subsection, including rules that provide an appeal process for any decision made by the board. Rules adopted pursuant to this paragraph are routine technical rules pursuant to Title 5, chapter 375, subchapter 2?A.
This paragraph is repealed December 31, 2026. [PL 2021, c. 241, §4 (NEW).]
[PL 2021, c. 241, §4 (AMD).]
Terms Used In Maine Revised Statutes Title 32 Sec. 86
- Ambulance: means any vehicle, whether an air, ground or water vehicle, that is designed, constructed or routinely used or intended to be used for the transportation of ill or injured persons. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 32 Sec. 83
- Ambulance service: means any person, persons or organization that holds itself out to be a provider of transportation of ill or injured persons or that routinely provides transportation for ill or injured persons. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 32 Sec. 83
- Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
- Board: means the Emergency Medical Services' Board established pursuant to section 88. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 32 Sec. 83
- Emergency medical treatment: means those skills, techniques and judgments, as defined by the board, which are directed to maintaining, improving or preventing the deterioration of the medical condition of the patient and which are appropriate to be delivered by trained persons at the scene of a patient's illness or injury outside the hospital and during transportation to the hospital. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 32 Sec. 83
- Flight nurse: means any registered professional nurse, currently licensed in the State, who has completed a prehospital care curriculum authorized by the Emergency Medical Services' Board. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 32 Sec. 83
- License: means a full, temporary, provisional or conditional license issued by the board under this chapter. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 32 Sec. 83
- Nontransporting emergency medical service: means any organization, person or persons who hold themselves out as providers of emergency medical treatment and who do not routinely provide transportation to ill or injured persons, and who routinely offer or provide services to the general public beyond the boundaries of a single recreational site, business, school or other facility. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 32 Sec. 83
- Online medical control: means the online physician, physician assistant or nurse practitioner, licensed by the State, authorized by a hospital to supervise and direct the actions of emergency medical services persons. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 32 Sec. 83
- Physician: has the meaning set forth in Title 24, section 2502, subsection 3. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 32 Sec. 83
2. Care of patient. Whenever an ambulance transports a patient from the scene of an emergency, the patient must be cared for by a physician, by a flight nurse or by a person licensed under this chapter to provide emergency medical care. Whenever an ambulance transports a patient from a hospital or other health care facility to another place, the patient must be cared for by:
A. The physician in charge of the patient’s case, by a person licensed under this chapter or by a professional nurse; or [PL 1981, c. 661, §2 (NEW).]
B. A licensed practical nurse, or other person appropriately trained to care for the patient, acting under orders from the patient’s physician. [PL 1981, c. 661, §2 (NEW).]
The person specified in this subsection as caring for the patient shall accompany the patient in the portion of the ambulance where the patient rides.
[PL 1999, c. 182, §10 (AMD).]
2-A. Treatment. When an ambulance service or nontransporting emergency medical service is present at an accident or other situation in which a person or persons require emergency medical treatment, the medical treatment of the patients must be carried out in accordance with any rules adopted under this chapter, any protocols as defined in section 83, subsection 19 and any orders given by online medical control; except that:
A. When a patient is already under the supervision of a personal physician or physician assistant or a nurse practitioner supervised by the physician and the physician, physician assistant or nurse practitioner assumes the care of the patient, then for as long as the physician, physician assistant or nurse practitioner remains with the patient, the patient must be cared for as the physician, physician assistant or nurse practitioner directs. The emergency medical services persons shall assist to the extent that their licenses and protocol allow; and [PL 2019, c. 627, Pt. B, §9 (AMD).]
B. A patient is not required to accept treatment to which the patient does not consent. [PL 1999, c. 182, §11 (AMD).]
[PL 2019, c. 627, Pt. B, §9 (AMD).]
3. Air transportation. Any patient transported by air must be flown on a service licensed under Federal Aviation Regulations, Part 135 or Part 121. In such an instance, the flight is deemed to be an air ambulance and the patient must be cared for as provided in subsection 2.
[PL 1991, c. 588, §14 (AMD).]
4. Naloxone hydrochloride or another opioid overdose-reversing medication. An ambulance service or a nontransporting emergency medical service licensed under this chapter may dispense naloxone hydrochloride or another opioid overdose-reversing medication in accordance with Title 22, section 2353, subsection 2?A and the rules adopted and protocols developed for ambulance services and nontransporting emergency medical services under this chapter. An opioid overdose-reversing medication referenced in this subsection must be approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration.
[PL 2023, c. 161, §6 (AMD).]
SECTION HISTORY
PL 1981, c. 661, §2 (NEW). PL 1985, c. 530, §3 (AMD). PL 1991, c. 588, §14 (AMD). PL 1993, c. 152, §3 (AMD). PL 1995, c. 161, §§7,8 (AMD). PL 1999, c. 182, §§9-11 (AMD). PL 2007, c. 274, §15 (AMD). PL 2015, c. 82, §5 (AMD). PL 2019, c. 627, Pt. B, §9 (AMD). PL 2021, c. 161, §5 (AMD). PL 2021, c. 241, §4 (AMD). PL 2023, c. 161, §6 (AMD).