Emergency medical services: data and information system.

Existing law, the Emergency Medical Services System and the Prehospital Emergency Medical Care Personnel Act, governs local emergency medical services (EMS) systems. The act establishes the Emergency Medical Services Authority, which is responsible for the coordination and integration of all state agencies concerning emergency medical services. Existing law requires a local EMS agency to plan, implement, and evaluate an emergency medical services system, as specified, and authorizes the local EMS agency to develop and submit a plan to the authority for an emergency medical services system according to prescribed guidelines that address data collection and evaluation, among other things. This bill would require an emergency medical care provider to, when collecting and submitting data to a local EMS agency, use an electronic health record system that exports data in a format that is compliant with the current versions of the California Emergency Medical Services Information System (CEMSIS) and the National Emergency Medical Services Information System (NEMSIS) standards, includes those data elements required by the local EMS agency, and uses an electronic health record system that can be integrated with the local EMS agency's data system, as specified. The bill would prohibit a local EMS agency from mandating that a provider use a specific electronic health record system to collect and share data with the agency. The bill would not modify or affect a written contract or agreement executed before January 1, 2016, between a local EMS agency and an emergency medical care provider.