(a) EMS
agencies shall collect, maintain and electronically report complete, accurate
and reliable patient data and other information as solicited on the EMS PCR
form for calls for assistance in the format prescribed by the Department. An
EMS agency shall file the report for calls to which it responds that result in
EMS being provided. The report shall be made by completing an EMS PCR within
the time prescribed by the EMS agency's written policies, no later than 72
hours after the EMS agency concludes patient care, and then submitting it,
within 30 days, to the regional EMS council that is assigned responsibilities
for the region in which the EMS agency is licensed. Upon request, the EMS
agency shall provide a copy of the EMS PCR to the regional EMS council that is
assigned responsibilities for the region in which the EMS agency encountered
the patient. An entity located out-of-State, but licensed as an EMS agency by
the Department, shall file its EMS PCRs with the regional EMS council with
which it has been directed to file its EMS PCRs by the Department. The
Department will publish a list of the data elements and the form specifications
for the EMS PCR form in a notice in the Pennsylvania Bulletin
and on the Department's web site. The reporting shall conform to the
requirements in the notice published in the Pennsylvania
Bulletin. The Department will maintain a list of software it has
determined to satisfy the requirements for electronic reporting.
(b) When an EMS provider relinquishes primary
responsibility for the care of a patient to another EMS provider, the EMS
provider relinquishing that responsibility shall provide the other EMS provider
with the patient information that has been collected.
(c) When an EMS agency transports a patient
to a receiving facility, before its ambulance departs from the receiving
facility, the EMS agency having primary responsibility for the patient shall
verbally and in writing, or other means by which information is recorded,
report to the individual at the receiving facility assuming responsibility for
the patient, the patient information that is essential for immediate
transmission for patient care. The Department will publish a notice in the
Pennsylvania Bulletin specifying the types of patient
information that are essential for patient care. The EMS agency shall provide
the completed EMS PCR to the receiving facility to which the patient was
transported within 72 hours after the EMS agency concluded patient care. Upon
request of any other facility that subsequently provides health care services
to the patient related to the reason the patient was transported to the
original receiving facility, the EMS agency shall provide the completed EMS PCR
to that facility within 24 hours of the request or within 72 hours after the
EMS agency concluded patient care, whichever is later. The EMS agency shall
submit the data to the facility in a mutually acceptable manner to the facility
and the EMS agency which ensures the confidentiality of information in the EMS
PCR.
(d) The EMS provider who
assumes primary responsibility for the patient shall complete an EMS PCR for
the patient and ensure that the EMS PCR is accurate and complete and completed
within the time prescribed by the EMS agency under subsection (a). When a
patient is transported to a receiving facility, an EMS provider of the EMS
agency having primary responsibility for the patient shall also ensure that
before the ambulance departs from the receiving facility essential patient
information is reported to the receiving facility as required under subsection
(c).
(e) The EMS agency shall
retain a copy of the EMS PCR for a minimum of 7 years.