§ 1027.1. General provisions.
(a) License required. A person, or other entity, as an owner, agent or otherwise, may not operate, conduct, maintain, advertise or otherwise engage in or profess to be engaged in operating an EMS agency in this Commonwealth unless that person holds a license as an EMS agency and a current registration of that license issued by the Department or is exempt from these requirements. By way of example, an entity is operating an EMS agency if it operates any of the following:
(1) An ambulance service.
(i) BLS ambulance service.
(ii) Intermediate ALS ambulance service.
(iii) ALS ambulance service, including a critical care transport ambulance service.
(iv) Air ambulance service.
(v) BLS water ambulance service.
(vi) Intermediate ALS water ambulance service.
(vii) ALS water ambulance service.
(2) A squad service.
(i) BLS squad service.
(ii) Intermediate ALS squad service.
(iii) ALS squad service.
(3) A QRS.
(4) A special operations EMS service.
(i) Tactical EMS service.
(ii) Wilderness EMS service.
(iii) Mass-gathering EMS service.
(iv) Urban search and rescue service.
(5) An EMS agency dispatch center operating as part of an EMS agency.
(b) License requirements. The Department will license an applicant as an EMS agency if the Department is satisfied that the applicant has met the following requirements:
(1) The applicant and persons having a substantial ownership interest in the applicant are responsible persons and the EMS agency shall be staffed by and conduct its activities through responsible persons. For purposes of this paragraph:
(i) A responsible person is a person who has not engaged in an act contrary to justice, honesty or good morals which indicates that the person is likely to betray the public trust in carrying out the activities of the EMS agency, or is a person who has engaged in this type of conduct but has been rehabilitated and is not likely to again betray the public trust.
(ii) A person has a substantial ownership in the applicant if the person has equity in the capital, stock or the profits of the applicant equal to 5% or more of the property or assets of the applicant.
(iii) A person staffs an EMS agency if the person engages in activity integral to the operation of the EMS agency, including participating in the making or execution of management decisions, providing EMS, billing, call-taking and dispatching.
(2) The applicant meets the supply and equipment requirements for each EMS vehicle and type of EMS service it makes application to offer, and demonstrates that it shall be maintained and operated to safely and efficiently operate those vehicles and render those services.
(3) The applicant shall meet staffing standards for the vehicles it seeks to operate and the services it seeks to provide. Subject to the exceptions in § 1027.6 (relating to Statewide EMS response plan), this includes providing EMS services 24-hours-a-day, 7-days-a-week or participating in a county-level or broader-level EMS response plan approved by the Department.
(4) The applicant shall provide safe services that are adequate for the emergency medical care, treatment and comfort and, when applicable, the transportation of patients.
(5) The applicant has an EMS agency medical director who satisfies requirements established by the Department based upon the types of services it seeks to provide and the EMS vehicles it seeks to operate.
(6) The applicant satisfies the regulatory requirements relating to making its application for a license and has adopted policies and procedures adequate to ensure compliance with the requirements in the act, this part and notices the Department publishes in the Pennsylvania Bulletin that are applicable to its operations.
(c) License certificate. The Department will issue a license certificate to an applicant that it licenses as an EMS agency. The license certificate will specify the name of the EMS agency, its license number, the address of its primary operational headquarters and the date the license was issued. The Department will also issue with the license certificate a document that specifies the type or types of EMS agency services the EMS agency is licensed to provide, the types of EMS vehicles the agency will operate, the locations out of which it is authorized to provide that service or services if more than one location is involved, the fictitious name, if any, under which it conducts its operations at each location involved, and the name of the regional EMS council through which the license application was processed. The Department will replace that document if there is a need to change the information on it due to a license amendment.
(d) License registration. An EMS agency requires both an EMS agency license and current registration of that license to conduct its operations. When the Department registers an EMS agency’s license it will issue a registration certificate to the EMS agency that specifies the name of the EMS agency, its license number, the address of its primary operational headquarters and the dates the registration is effective and will expire.
(e) Transition for ambulance services and QRSs.
(1) An entity that is licensed as an ambulance service or recognized as a QRS by the Department, or a hospital that operates an ambulance service or QRS under its hospital license, immediately prior to April 10, 2014, will be licensed by the Department as an EMS agency, with a current registration of that license on April 10, 2014, if the records of the Department reflect that the ambulance service, QRS or hospital has an EMS agency medical director. The license and registration will authorize the EMS agency to operate the EMS vehicles and provide the services it was authorized to operate and provide when licensed as an ambulance service, recognized as a QRS, or operated under a hospital license.
(2) An entity that is licensed as an ambulance service or recognized as a QRS by the Department, or operates an ambulance service under a hospital license, immediately prior to April 10, 2014, that does not have an EMS agency medical director may continue to operate as an ambulance service or QRS under the regulations promulgated under the Emergency Medical Services Act (35 P. S. § § 6921—6938) (repealed by the act of August 18, 2009 (P. L. 308, No. 37)), until April 10, 2014, without securing an EMS agency license.
Source The provisions of this § 1027.1 adopted October 11, 2013, effective April 10, 2014, 43 Pa.B. 6093.
Cross References This section cited in 28 Pa. Code § 1027.2 (relating to license and registration applications).
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