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- Speeches - Sustaining Access to Emergency Medical Services

Congressional Record -- Senate

Proceedings and Debates of the 107th Congress, First Session

March 21, 2001

Introduction of S. 587 -

The Sustaining Access to Vital Emergency

Medical Services Act of 2001

Mr. President, I am pleased to rise today to introduce " The Sustaining

Access to Vital Emergency Medical Services Act of 2001 " with Senators Conrad,

Daschle, , and . As with all rural health legislation I have

worked on, I am proud of the bipartisan effort behind this bill.

" The Sustaining Access to Vital Emergency Medical Services Act of 2001 "

will provide assistance to rural providers to maintain access to important

emergency medical services, EMS. This legislation is necessary because rural EMS

providers are primarily volunteers who have difficulty recruiting, retaining and

educating EMS personnel. Rural EMS providers also have less capital to buy and

upgrade essential, life-saving equipment.

The first section of this legislation is the authorization of an annual

$50 million competitive grant program. Grantees can use these funds for

recruiting volunteers, training emergency personnel, using new technologies to

educate providers, acquiring EMS vehicles such as ambulances and acquiring

emergency medical equipment. I think it is important to note that all of the

above eligible uses of funds were priority concerns of State EMS Directors in a

recently conducted Rural EMS Survey with recruitment and retention ranking as

number one.

The second part of this legislation applies the prudent layperson standard

for emergency services currently used in hospital emergency rooms to ambulance

services. This provision will assist ambulance providers in collecting payments

for transporting patients to the hospital after answering a 911 call regardless

of the final diagnosis. This is a common sense approach and ensures that all

aspects of emergency care are operating under the same definition of emergency.

I believe this legislation is an important part of ensuring rural

residents have access to emergency services. It is also flexible so communities

can decide for themselves what is their most imminent EMS need. Our bill is

supported by the National Association of State EMS Directors, the National Rural

Health Association and the American Ambulance Association. I strongly urge all

my colleagues interested in rural health to consider cosponsoring " The

Sustaining Access to Vital Emergency Medical Services Act of 2001. "

--end--

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