{"data":{"id":"us-ok/okla.-stat.-tit.-63-63-1-2503v2","jurisdiction":"us-ok","citation":"Okla. Stat. tit. 63, § 63-1-2503v2","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 State Commissioner of Health, designed\n\nand equipped 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 Commissioner for approval, and shall display\n\nevidence 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 based on certification\n\nstandards promulgated by the Commissioner;\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 Commissioner;\n\n8. \"Certified emergency medical response agency\" means an\n\norganization of any type certified by the Department to provide\n\nemergency medical care and limited transport in an emergency vehicle\n\nas defined in Section 1-103 of Title 47 of the Oklahoma Statutes. A\n\ncertified emergency medical response agency shall only provide\n\ntransport upon approval by the appropriate online medical control at\n\nthe time of transport. Certified emergency medical response\n\nagencies may utilize certified emergency medical responders or\n\nlicensed emergency medical personnel; provided, however, that all\n\npersonnel so utilized shall function under the direction of and\n\nconsistent 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. \"Council\" means the Trauma and Emergency Response Advisory\n\nCouncil created in Section 1-103a.1 of this title;\n\n13. \"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 Commissioner;\n\n14. \"Department\" means the State Department of Health;\n\n15. \"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\n16. \"Letter of review\" means the official designation from\n\nCoAEMSP to a paramedic program that is in the \"becoming accredited\"\n\nprocess;\n\n17. \"Licensed emergency medical personnel\" means an emergency\npropriate 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\n16. \"Letter of review\" means the official designation from\n\nCoAEMSP to a paramedic program that is in the \"becoming accredited\"\n\nprocess;\n\n17. \"Licensed emergency medical personnel\" means an emergency\n\nmedical technician (EMT), an intermediate, an advanced emergency\n\nmedical technician (AEMT), or a paramedic licensed by the Department\n\nto perform emergency medical services in accordance with the\n\nOklahoma Emergency Response Systems Development Act and the rules\n\nand standards promulgated by the Commissioner;\n\n18. \"Licensure\" means the licensing of emergency medical care\n\nproviders and ambulance services pursuant to rules and standards\n\npromulgated by the Commissioner at one or more of the following\n\nlevels:\n\na. basic life support,\n\nb. intermediate life support,\n\nc. paramedic life support,\n\nd. advanced life support,\n\ne. stretcher 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\nCommissioner. Licensure at any level of care includes a license to\n\noperate at any lower level, with the exception of licensure for\n\nspecialty care; provided, however, that the highest level of care\n\noffered by an ambulance service shall be available twenty-four (24)\n\nhours each day, 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 Commissioner;\n\n19. \"Medical control\" means local, regional or statewide\n\nmedical direction and quality assurance of health care delivery in\n\nan emergency medical service system. Online medical control is the\n\nmedical direction given to licensed emergency medical personnel,\n\ncertified emergency medical responders and stretcher van personnel\n\nby a physician via radio or telephone. Off-line medical control is\n\nthe establishment and monitoring of all medical components of an\n\nemergency medical service system, which is to include stretcher van\n\nservice including, but not limited to, protocols, standing orders,\n\neducational programs, and the quality and delivery of online\n\ncontrol;\n\n20. \"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 Commissioner;\n\n21. \"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 van service\n\nthrough common ordinances, authorities, boards or other means;\n\n22. \"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 van\n\nand ambulances,\n\nb. emergency medical responder services provided by\natutes - Title 63. Public Health and Safety Page 824\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 van\n\nand ambulances,\n\nb. emergency medical responder services provided by\n\nemergency medical response agencies,\n\nc. ambulance services, both emergency, routine and\n\nstretcher 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 van or ambulance\n\npersonnel at the scene of an emergency or while en\n\nroute to a hospital;\n\n23. \"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\n24. \"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\n25. \"Stretcher van\" means any ground vehicle which is or should\n\nbe approved by the State Commissioner of Health, which is designed\n\nand equipped to transport individuals on a stretcher or gurney type\n\napparatus. Vehicles used as stretcher vans shall meet such\n\nstandards as may be required by the Commissioner for approval and\n\nshall display evidence of licensure at all times. The Commissioner\n\nshall not establish Federal Specification KKK-A-1822 ambulance\n\nstandards for stretcher vans; provided, a stretcher van shall meet\n\nAmbulance Manufacturers Division (AMD) Standards 004, 012 and 013,\n\nand shall pass corresponding safety tests. Stretcher van services\n\nshall only be permitted and approved by the Commissioner in\n\nemergency medical service regions, ambulance service districts, or\n\ncounties with populations in excess of five hundred thousand\n\n(500,000) people. Notwithstanding the provisions of this paragraph,\n\nstretcher van transports may be made to and from any federal or\n\nstate veterans facility. Stretcher vans may carry and provide\n\noxygen and may carry and utilize any equipment necessary for the\n\nprovision of oxygen;\n\n26. \"Stretcher van passenger\" 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 except oxygen.\n\nPassengers must be authorized as qualified to be transported by\n\nstretcher van. Passengers shall be authorized through screening\n\nprovided by a certified medical dispatching protocol approved by the\n\nDepartment. All patients being transported to or from any medically\n\nlicensed facility shall be screened before transport. Any patient\n\ntransported without screening shall be a violation of Commissioner\n\nrule by the transporting company and subject to administrative\n\nprocedures of the Department; and\n\n27. \"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:\n\na. nonemergency, routine transport shall be to the\n\nfacility of the patient's choice,\ntransported. 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,\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, and\n\nd. emergency ambulance transportation is not required\n\nwhen a patient's apparent clinical condition, as\n\ndefined by applicable medical treatment protocols,\n\ndoes not warrant emergency ambulance transport, and\n\nnontransport of patients is authorized pursuant to\n\napplicable medical treatment protocols established by\n\nthe regional medical director.","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":"cce78f34e9d21a59108e9f333892bdb4f0c56330149288995b8bc4d45ea52c8d","source_id":"us-ok","stale":false,"prev":"us-ok/okla.-stat.-tit.-63-63-1-2503v1","next":"us-ok/okla.-stat.-tit.-63-63-1-2504"},"notice":"GroundRules: Original legal text. Not legal advice."}