§ 1027.40. Air ambulance service.
(a) Purpose. An EMS agency that operates an air ambulance service employs one or more air ambulances staffed by a crew capable of providing medical assessment, observation, triage, monitoring, treatment and transportation of patients who require EMS. An air ambulance should be employed when time to administer definitive care to a patient is of the essence and transportation by air ambulance to a receiving facility able to provide the care is faster than transportation by ground ambulance, or when a patient requires EMS provided by specialized equipment or providers not available on a ground ambulance and the air ambulance can provide this faster than the patient would receive such care at a receiving facility if transported by ground ambulance.
(b) Staffing. The minimum staffing for an air ambulance crew when responding to a call to transport a patient by air ambulance is a pilot and two EMS providers above the AEMT level, with at least one of the EMS providers being a paramedic, PHPE, PHRN or a PHP who has successfully completed an air ambulance transport educational program approved by the Department. Provided that one of the EMS providers is a paramedic, PHPE, PHRN or a PHP who has successfully completed an air ambulance transport educational program approved by the Department, another health care provider or providers may substitute for a second EMS provider above the AEMT level to attend to a patient with special medical needs if the EMS agency has submitted to the Department, and received the Department’s approval of, a plan that provides for substitution to attend to the needs of those patients in accordance with the Department-approved protocol the EMS agency has established for its air ambulance service. Responding crew members may arrive at the scene separately, but the ambulance shall be fully staffed at or above the minimum staffing level before transporting a patient.
(c) Transport of patient. During patient transport, two EMS providers who satisfy the minimum EMS provider staffing requirement in subsection (b) shall accompany the patient in the patient compartment of the ambulance and be available to attend to the patient during the transport.
(d) Flight requirements.
(1) An EMS agency’s determination regarding whether to accept a flight shall be based solely on availability, weather conditions and safety considerations.
(2) The crew of an air ambulance shall apprise the dispatching ground PSAP as soon as practical after receiving a dispatch call, its estimated time of arrival at the scene of the emergency. While the air ambulance is en route to the scene of an emergency, if the crew of the air ambulance believes that the air ambulance and required staff will not be able to arrive at the emergency scene within the estimated time of arrival previously given, the air ambulance crew shall contact the ground PSAP and provide a new estimated time of arrival.
(e) EMS protocols. In addition to following the Statewide EMS protocols, an EMS agency that operates an air ambulance service may establish and follow EMS protocols that address EMS not covered by the Department’s EMS protocols, provided those protocols are approved by the Department. To secure that approval, the EMS agency shall submit the proposed protocols to the medical advisory committee of the regional EMS council through which it submitted its application to be licensed as an EMS agency. That medical advisory committee shall assess the appropriateness of the proposed protocols and then forward the proposed protocols to the Department with its recommendations.
(f) Expanded scope of practice. When providing EMS through an air ambulance service, the scope of practice of an EMS provider above the AEMT level is expanded. This expansion will include EMS skills and the use of equipment in addition to those included in the EMS provider’s general scope of practice if the EMS provider has received education to perform those skills and use that equipment by having successfully completed an air ambulance transport educational program approved by the Department. The EMS provider is required to be able to document having received that education and to demonstrate competency in the performance of those skills and use of that equipment to the EMS agency medical director. Performance of those skills and use of that equipment by that level of EMS provider will be authorized by the Department as published in a notice in the Pennsylvania Bulletin. An EMS provider shall perform these skills as directed by the Statewide EMS protocols applicable to an air ambulance service or as otherwise directed by a medical command physician.
Source The provisions of this § 1027.40 adopted October 11, 2013, effective April 10, 2014, 43 Pa.B. 6093.
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