{"data":{"id":"us-ok/okla.-stat.-tit.-63-63-1-2503v1","jurisdiction":"us-ok","citation":"Okla. Stat. tit. 63, § 63-1-2503v1","heading":"Definitions","body":"As used in the Oklahoma Emergency Response Systems Development\n\nAct:\n\n1. \"Ambulance\" means any ground, air or water vehicle which is\n\nor should be approved by the Commissioner of Health, designed and\n\nequipped to transport a patient or patients and to provide\n\nappropriate on-scene and en route patient stabilization and care as\n\nrequired. Vehicles used as ambulances shall meet such standards as\n\nmay be required by the State Board of Health for approval, and shall\n\ndisplay evidence of such approval at all times;\n\n2. \"Ambulance authority\" means any public trust or nonprofit\n\ncorporation established by the state or any unit of local government\n\nor combination of units of government for the express purpose of\n\nproviding, directly or by contract, emergency medical services in a\n\nspecified area of the state;\n\n3. \"Ambulance patient\" or \"patient\" means any person who is or\n\nwill be transported in a reclining position to or from a health care\n\nfacility in an ambulance;\n\n4. \"Ambulance service\" means any private firm or governmental\n\nagency which is or should be licensed by the State Department of\n\nHealth to provide levels of medical care, including but not limited\n\nto comprehensive integrated medical care in emergency and\n\nnonemergency settings under the supervision of a physician, based on\n\ncertification standards promulgated by the Board;\n\n5. \"Ambulance service district\" means any county, group of\n\ncounties or parts of counties formed together to provide, operate\n\nand finance emergency medical services as provided by Section 9C of\n\nArticle X of the Oklahoma Constitution or Sections 1201 through 1221\n\nof Title 19 of the Oklahoma Statutes;\n\n6. \"Board\" means the State Board of Health;\n\n7. \"Certified emergency medical responder\" means an individual\n\ncertified by the Department to perform emergency medical services in\n\naccordance with the Oklahoma Emergency Response Systems Development\n\nAct and in accordance with the rules and standards promulgated by\n\nthe Board;\n\n8. \"Certified emergency medical response agency\" means an\n\norganization of any type certified by the Department to provide\n\nemergency medical care, but not transport. Certified emergency\n\nmedical response agencies may utilize certified emergency medical\n\nresponders or licensed emergency medical personnel; provided,\n\nhowever, that all personnel so utilized shall function under the\n\ndirection of and consistent with guidelines for medical control;\n\n9. \"Classification\" means an inclusive standardized\n\nidentification of stabilizing and definitive emergency services\n\nprovided by each hospital that treats emergency patients;\n\n10. \"CoAEMSP\" means the Committee on Accreditation of\n\nEducational Programs for the Emergency Medical Services Professions;\n\n11. \"Commissioner\" means the State Commissioner of Health;\n\n12. \"Community paramedic\" means a licensed paramedic who meets\n\nthe requirements of Section 1-2505 of this title;\n\n13. \"Community paramedic services\" means services that include\n\ninterventions intended to prevent unnecessary ambulance\n\ntransportation or hospital emergency department use.\n\na. Community paramedic services must be part of a care\n\nplan ordered by a primary health care provider or a\n\nhospital provider in consultation with the medical\n\ndirector of an ambulance service. Such care plan must\n\nensure that the services provided by a community\n\nparamedic do not duplicate services already provided\n\nto the patient, including home health and waiver\n\nservices.\n\nb. Community paramedic services shall include health\n\nassessment, chronic disease monitoring and education,\n\nmedication compliance, immunizations and vaccinations,\n\nlaboratory specimen collection, hospital discharge\n\nfollow-up care and minor medical procedures compliant\n\nwith the community paramedic's scope of practice and\n\napproved by the ambulance medical director;\nhealth and waiver\n\nservices.\n\nb. Community paramedic services shall include health\n\nassessment, chronic disease monitoring and education,\n\nmedication compliance, immunizations and vaccinations,\n\nlaboratory specimen collection, hospital discharge\n\nfollow-up care and minor medical procedures compliant\n\nwith the community paramedic's scope of practice and\n\napproved by the ambulance medical director;\n\n14. \"Council\" means the Trauma and Emergency Response Advisory\n\nCouncil created in Section 1-103a.1 of this title;\n\n15. \"Critical care paramedic\" or \"CCP\" means a licensed\n\nparamedic who has successfully completed critical care training and\n\ntesting requirements in accordance with the Oklahoma Emergency\n\nResponse Systems Development Act and in accordance with the rules\n\nand standards promulgated by the Board;\n\n16. \"Department\" means the State Department of Health;\n\n17. \"Emergency medical services system\" means a system which\n\nprovides for the organization and appropriate designation of\n\npersonnel, facilities and equipment for the effective and\n\ncoordinated local, regional and statewide delivery of health care\n\nservices primarily under emergency conditions;\n\n18. \"Letter of review\" means the official designation from\n\nCoAEMSP to a paramedic program that is in the \"becoming accredited\"\n\nprocess;\n\n19. \"Licensed emergency medical personnel\" means an emergency\n\nmedical technician (EMT), an intermediate emergency medical\n\ntechnician (IEMT), an advanced emergency medical technician (AEMT),\n\nor a paramedic licensed by the Department to perform emergency\n\nmedical services in accordance with the Oklahoma Emergency Response\n\nSystems Development Act and the rules and standards promulgated by\n\nthe Board;\n\n20. \"Licensure\" means the licensing of emergency medical care\n\nproviders and ambulance services pursuant to rules and standards\n\npromulgated by the Board at one or more of the following levels:\n\na. basic life support,\n\nb. intermediate life support,\n\nc. paramedic life support,\n\nd. advanced life support,\n\ne. stretcher aid van, and\n\nf. specialty care, which shall be used solely for\n\ninterhospital transport of patients requiring\n\nspecialized en route medical monitoring and advanced\n\nlife support which exceed the capabilities of the\n\nequipment and personnel provided by paramedic life\n\nsupport.\n\nRequirements for each level of care shall be established by the\n\nBoard. Licensure at any level of care includes a license to operate\n\nat any lower level, with the exception of licensure for specialty\n\ncare; provided, however, that the highest level of care offered by\n\nan ambulance service shall be available twenty-four (24) hours each\n\nday, three hundred sixty-five (365) days per year.\n\nLicensure shall be granted or renewed for such periods and under\n\nsuch terms and conditions as may be promulgated by the Board;\n\n21. \"Medical control\" means local, regional or statewide\n\nmedical direction and quality assurance of health care delivery in\n\nan emergency medical service system. On-line medical control is the\n\nmedical direction given to licensed emergency medical personnel,\n\ncertified emergency medical responders and stretcher aid van\n\npersonnel by a physician via radio or telephone. Off-line medical\n\ncontrol is the establishment and monitoring of all medical\n\ncomponents of an emergency medical service system, which is to\n\ninclude stretcher aid van service including, but not limited to,\n\nprotocols, standing orders, educational programs, and the quality\n\nand delivery of on-line control;\n\n22. \"Medical director\" means a physician, fully licensed\n\nwithout restriction, who acts as a paid or volunteer medical advisor\n\nto a licensed ambulance service and who monitors and directs the\n\ncare so provided. Such physicians shall meet such qualifications\n\nand requirements as may be promulgated by the Board;\n\n23. \"Region\" or \"emergency medical service region\" means two or\ny of on-line control;\n\n22. \"Medical director\" means a physician, fully licensed\n\nwithout restriction, who acts as a paid or volunteer medical advisor\n\nto a licensed ambulance service and who monitors and directs the\n\ncare so provided. Such physicians shall meet such qualifications\n\nand requirements as may be promulgated by the Board;\n\n23. \"Region\" or \"emergency medical service region\" means two or\n\nmore municipalities, counties, ambulance districts or other\n\npolitical subdivisions exercising joint control over one or more\n\nproviders of emergency medical services and stretcher aid van\n\nservice through common ordinances, authorities, boards or other\n\nmeans;\n\n24. \"Regional emergency medical services system\" means a\n\nnetwork of organizations, individuals, facilities and equipment\n\nwhich serves a region, subject to a unified set of regional rules\n\nand standards which may exceed, but may not be in contravention of,\n\nthose required by the state, which is under the medical direction of\n\na single regional medical director, and which participates directly\n\nin the delivery of the following services:\n\na. medical call-taking and emergency medical services\n\ndispatching, emergency and routine, including priority\n\ndispatching of first response agencies, stretcher aid\n\nvan and ambulances,\n\nb. emergency medical responder services provided by\n\nemergency medical response agencies,\n\nc. ambulance services, both emergency, routine and\n\nstretcher aid van including, but not limited to, the\n\ntransport of patients in accordance with transport\n\nprotocols approved by the regional medical director,\n\nand\n\nd. directions given by physicians directly via radio or\n\ntelephone, or by written protocol, to emergency\n\nmedical response agencies, stretcher aid van or\n\nambulance personnel at the scene of an emergency or\n\nwhile en route to a hospital;\n\n25. \"Regional medical director\" means a licensed physician, who\n\nmeets or exceeds the qualifications of a medical director as defined\n\nby the Oklahoma Emergency Response Systems Development Act, chosen\n\nby an emergency medical service region to provide external medical\n\noversight, quality control and related services to that region;\n\n26. \"Registration\" means the listing of an ambulance service in\n\na registry maintained by the Department; provided, however,\n\nregistration shall not be deemed to be a license;\n\n27. \"Stretcher aid van\" means any ground vehicle which is or\n\nshould be approved by the State Commissioner of Health, which is\n\ndesigned and equipped to transport individuals on a stretcher or\n\ngurney type apparatus. Vehicles used as stretcher aid vans shall\n\nmeet such standards as may be required by the State Board of Health\n\nfor approval and shall display evidence of such approval at all\n\ntimes. Stretcher aid van services shall only be permitted and\n\napproved by the Commissioner in emergency medical service regions,\n\nambulance service districts, or counties with populations in excess\n\nof four hundred thousand (400,000) people. Notwithstanding the\n\nprovisions of this paragraph, stretcher aid van transports may be\n\nmade to and from any federal or state veterans facility;\n\n28. \"Stretcher aid van patient\" means any person who is or will\n\nbe transported in a reclining position on a stretcher or gurney, who\n\nis medically stable, nonemergent and does not require any medical\n\nmonitoring equipment or assistance during transport; and\n\n29. \"Transport protocol\" means the written instructions\n\ngoverning decision-making at the scene of a medical emergency by\n\nambulance personnel regarding the selection of the hospital to which\n\nthe patient shall be transported. Transport protocols shall be\n\ndeveloped by the regional medical director for a regional emergency\n\nmedical services system or by the Department if no regional\n\nemergency medical services system has been established. Such\n\ntransport protocols shall adhere to, at a minimum, the following\n\nguidelines:\nulance personnel regarding the selection of the hospital to which\n\nthe patient shall be transported. Transport protocols shall be\n\ndeveloped by the regional medical director for a regional emergency\n\nmedical services system or by the Department if no regional\n\nemergency medical services system has been established. Such\n\ntransport protocols shall adhere to, at a minimum, the following\n\nguidelines:\n\na. nonemergency, routine transport shall be to the\n\nfacility of the patient's choice,\n\nb. urgent or emergency transport not involving life-\n\nthreatening medical illness or injury shall be to the\n\nnearest facility, or, subject to transport\n\navailability and system area coverage, to the facility\n\nof the patient's choice, and\n\nc. life-threatening medical illness or injury shall\n\nrequire transport to the nearest health care facility\n\nappropriate to the needs of the patient as established\n\nby regional or state guidelines.","path":["OK Code","Title 63"],"source_url":"https://www.oklegislature.gov/OK_Statutes/CompleteTitles/os63.pdf","current_through":"2026-08-14","vintage":"open-us-law v2026.08, retrieved 2026-09-14","retrieved_at":"2026-09-14T18:32:36Z","sha256":"490bbe829b911840c6d23470bce77a8a813c3eb81b303cd69b361c39907b84e9","source_id":"us-ok","stale":false,"prev":"us-ok/okla.-stat.-tit.-63-63-1-2503","next":"us-ok/okla.-stat.-tit.-63-63-1-2503v2"},"notice":"GroundRules: Original legal text. Not legal advice."}