D.C. Act 21-154. Emergency Medical Services Contract Authority Emergency Amendment Act of 2015.
AN ACT
To amend, on an emergency basis, An Act To classify the officers and members of the fire department of the District of Columbia, and for other purposes, to authorize the Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department to contract with third parties to provide supplemental pre-hospital medical care and transportation for Basic Life Support calls for service, to require that third-party contracts preclude the District from liability and contain an indemnification provision, to set forth reporting requirements for third-party contractors, the Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department, and the Office of Unified Communications, and to extend the public duty doctrine to claims against the District for actions of a third-party contractor.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, That this act may be cited as the "Emergency Medical Services Contract Authority Emergency Amendment Act of 2015".
Sec. 2. Section 1 of An Act To classify the officers and members of the fire department of the District of Columbia, and for other purposes, approved June 20, 1906 (34 Stat. 314; D.C. Official Code § 5-401), is amended as follows:
(a) Subsection (b) is amended as follows:
(1) Designate the existing text as paragraph (1).
(2) New paragraphs (2) and (3) are added to read as follows:
"(2) Notwithstanding paragraph (1) of this subsection, the Department may contract with third parties to provide supplemental pre-hospital medical care and transportation to persons requiring Basic Life Support.
"(3) A contract entered into pursuant to paragraph (2) of this subsection shall include a provision that precludes the District from liability for any claims arising out of the actions of the third-party contractor and also provides full indemnification to ensure that the District shall not be responsible for any amounts owed to others as a result of the third-party contractor's action or inaction under the contract.".
(b) New subsections (d), (e), (f), (g), (h), and (i) are added to read as follows:
"(d) Each third-party contractor that enters into a contract pursuant to subsection (b)(2) of this section shall provide a quarterly report to the Department and to the Council that includes the following information:
"(1) The number of transports performed;
"(2) The location where the third-party contractor meets each patient and the name and location of the health care facility to which the patient is transported;
"(3) The average time between the dispatch of the third-party contractor by the Department and the third-party contractor's arrival to the patient;
"(4) The average time that the third-party contractor remains out of service while waiting to transfer the care of a patient to a healthcare facility;
"(5) The number of third-party contractor ambulances available on a daily basis for Department use;
"(6) The length of the third-party contractor's personnel shifts; and
"(7) The number of employees hired by the third-party contractor, including the number of District residents.
"(e) Within 4 months after the date of a contract award pursuant to subsection (b)(2) of this section, and quarterly thereafter, the Department shall submit a report to the Council that includes the following information:
"(1) Activity by the Department to educate the public on the proper use of emergency requests for service;
"(2) The number of employees hired after the contract award and their residency;
"(3) Evaluation of pre-hospital medical care and transportation fees considering the reasonableness of the fees, the public interest, and the persons required to pay the fee;
"(4) The number of ambulances added to the Department's frontline and reserve fleet after the date of the contract award, including whether added ambulances replace or supplement the current fleet;
"(5) The number of emergency medical services personnel training hours provided; and
"(6) The number of patients who used the Department's transport services twice or more within the reporting period, including the number of times the patient used transport services during the previous 12 months.
"(f) Within 4 months after the date of a contract award pursuant to subsection (b)(2) of this section, and quarterly thereafter, the Office of Unified Communications shall submit a report to the Council that includes the following information:
"(1) The number of calls dispatched and the average dispatch time; and
"(2) The protocol to reroute non-emergency calls.
"(g) Within one year after the date of a contract award pursuant to subsection (b)(2) of this section, the Department shall submit a report to the Council that evaluates performance under the contract and includes the following information:
"(1) The impact on the Department's unit availability;
"(2) The impact on the Department's fleet, including the ability to conduct preventative maintenance and the number of operational and reserve units available;
"(3) The impact on the Department's training schedule;
"(4) The impact on the Department's response times and quality of patient care;
"(5) An assessment of the number of units, the number of personnel, the amount of training, and associated costs required to provide pre-hospital medical care and transportation without the use of third parties; and
"(6) Recommendations for implementing any additional units, personnel, and training identified in paragraph (5) of this subsection.
"(h) The Council ratifies the interpretation and application of the public duty doctrine by the District of Columbia Court of Appeals up through the decision of September 25, 2014, in Allen v. District of Columbia, No. 10-CV-1425, and extends the public duty doctrine to claims against the District for the actions of contractors and their employees providing services under this section to the same extent as it applies to the District and its employees.
"(i) For the purposes of this section, the term "Basic Life Support" means a level of medical care provided by pre-hospital emergency medical services at the basic emergency response technician level and in accordance with the national scope of practice for a basic level provider.".
Sec. 3. Fiscal impact statement.
The Council adopts the fiscal impact statement of the Budget Director as the fiscal impact statement required by section 602(c)(3) of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act, approved December 24, 1973 (87 Stat. 813; D.C. Official Code § 1-206.02(c)(3)).
Sec. 4. Effective date.
This act shall take effect following approval by the Mayor (or in the event of veto by the Mayor, action by the Council to override the veto), and shall remain in effect for no longer than 90 days, as provided for emergency acts of the Council of the District of Columbia in section 412(a) of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act, approved December 24, 1973 (87 Stat. 788; D.C. Official Code § 1-204.12(a)).
