R426-9-1000. Resource Hospital Minimum Designation Requirements

  A Resource Hospital shall meet the following minimum requirements for designation:

  (1) Be licensed in Utah or another state as a general acute hospital or be a Veteran's Administration hospital operating in Utah;

  (2) Have the ability to communicate with other EMS providers operating in the area;

  (3) Provide on-line medical control for all pre-hospital EMS providers who request assistance for patient care, 24 hours-a-day, seven days a week;

  (4) Create and abide by written pre-hospital emergency patient care protocols for use in providing on-line medical control for pre-hospital EMS providers;

  (5) Train new staff on the protocols before the new staff is permitted to provide on-line medical control and annually review protocols with physician and nursing staff;

  (6) Annually provide in-service training on the protocols to all physicians and nurses who provide on-line medical control;

  (7) Make the protocols immediately available to staff for reference;

  (8) Provide on-line medical control which shall include:

  (a) direct voice communication with a physician; or

  (b) a registered nurse or physician's assistant, who shall to be licensed in Utah, who is in voice contact with a physician;

  (9) Implement a quality improvement process which shall include:

  (a) representatives from local EMS providers that routinely transport patients to the resource hospital;

  (b) quarterly meetings; and

  (c) minutes of the quality improvement meetings which are available for Department review;

  (10) Identify a coordinator for the pre-hospital quality improvement process;

  (11) Cooperate with the pre-hospital EMS providers' off-line medical directors in the quality review process, including granting access to hospital medical records of patients served by the particular pre-hospital EMS provider;

  (12) Participate in local and regional forums for performance improvement; and

  (13) Assist the Department in evaluating EMS system effectiveness by submitting to the Department, in an electronic format quarterly data specified by the Department.

  (14) Designated Trauma Centers are deemed to meet the Resource Hospital standards and are exempt from requirements outlined in this section.

  (15) The resource hospital designation and re-designation shall be for a period of three years.