3004-a. Regional emergency medical advisory committees. 1. Regional emergency medical advisory committees shall develop policies, procedures, and triage, treatment, and transportation protocols which are consistent with the standards of the state emergency medical advisory committee and which address specific local conditions. Regional emergency medical advisory committees may also approve physicians to provide on line medical control, coordinate the development of regional medical control systems, and participate in quality improvement activities addressing system-wide concerns. Hospitals and prehospital medical care services shall be authorized to release patient outcome information to regional emergency medical advisory committees for purposes of assessing prehospital care concerns. Regional quality improvement programs shall be presumed to be an extension of the quality improvement program set forth in section three thousand six of this article, and the provisions of subdivisions two and three of such section three thousand six shall apply to such programs.
2. The committee shall nominate to the commissioner a physician with demonstrated knowledge and experience in emergency medical services to serve on the state emergency medical advisory committee.
3. No civil action shall be brought in any court against any member, officer or employee of the committee for any act done, failure to act, or statement or opinion made, while discharging his or her duties as a member, officer, or employee of the committee, without leave from a justice of the supreme court, first had and obtained. In no event shall such member, officer, or employee be liable for damages in any such action if he or she shall have acted in good faith, with reasonable care and upon probable cause.
4. Any decision of a regional emergency medical advisory committee regarding provision of a level of care, including staffing requirements, may be appealed to the state emergency medical advisory committee by any regional EMS council, ambulance service, advanced life support service, certified first responder, emergency medical technician, or advanced emergency medical technician adversely affected. No action shall be taken to implement a decision regarding existing levels of care or staffing while an appeal of such decision is pending. Any decision of the state emergency medical advisory committee may be appealed pursuant to subdivision two-a of section three thousand two-a of this article.
Last modified: February 3, 2019