Daily Freeman
SAUGERTIES, N.Y. — Three emergency medical service-related bills sponsored or co-sponsored by state Sen. Michelle Hinchey have passed the state Senate, her office announced.
One of the bills, S8486A, sponsored by Hinchey, D- Saugerties, would require Medicaid payments to ambulance services when transporting patients to places other than hospitals or for treatment they receive at scenes of medical emergencies.
Another bill sponsored by Hinchey, S6226A, “would permit all motor vehicle ambulance and advanced life support response services to qualify to carry blood products and administer transfusions to trauma patients being taken to, from, or in between hospitals,” Hinchey’s office said in a press release. “Currently, motor vehicle ambulance services are only authorized to carry blood products and distribute transfusions to patients being transported between hospitals; however, are prohibited from doing so during prehospital care,” the release said.
A third bill, S4020C, sponsored by Sen. Shelley B. Maye and co-sponsored by Hinchey, would recognize EMS as an essential service, allow special districts to be created to fund EMS services and provide for a statewide comprehensive emergency medical system plan.
“EMS is a pillar of our healthcare system, especially for New Yorkers living in rural and medically underserved communities where a drive to the hospital could take upwards of an hour,” Hinchey said in a statement. “All across New York State, local EMS providers are in crisis, facing severe challenges from inadequate reimbursement to onerous rules that prevent them from delivering life-saving care, like blood transfusions, all while the demand for their services increases.”
To become law, the bills need approval from the Assembly and to be signed by Gov. Kathy Hochul.
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