(a) Except for those activities and responsibilities for basic life support and other emergency services which are under the jurisdiction of the State Fire Prevention Commission, the Office shall have jurisdiction over the development, implementation and maintenance of a statewide paramedic system. As part of its responsibilities, the Office shall: (1) Hire an administrator and staff to carry out the intent of this legislation, which shall include identifying the minimum number of paramedics that are required to be hired by a county so as to achieve advanced life support coverage throughout the State; (2) Advise in the development of standards for the selection of students to the didactic, clinical, and field training portion of paramedic advanced training. (3) Assure reasonable conditions and qualifications for certification of any person serving as a paramedic that meets or exceeds the advance life support standard of the United States Department of Transportation; (4) Assure that county boundaries do not become barriers to the effective and efficient deployment of paramedic units by coordinating the development of and approving service and/or training reciprocity agreements between counties; (5) Approve or deny the request of a hospital to become designated as a medical command facility. Such approval, denial or subsequent revocation or limitation of such designation shall be based on the ability of the hospital to comply with the operational and staffing requirements prescribed for medical command facilities by the Division of Public Health. In making decisions pursuant to this paragraph, the Office shall seek the advice of the Board of Medical Licensure and Discipline; (6) Assure that training and continuing education opportunities required for paramedic certification are reasonably accessible from a geographic standpoint. (b) A "memorandum of agreement" shall be established between the Office of Emergency Medical Services, of the Division of Public Health, Delaware State Police, State Fire Prevention Commission, Board of Medical Licensure and Discipline and any other agency serving as a component to the emergency medical services system in compliance with their respective agency's statutory provisions. To foster continuity and program coordination, the Office shall enforce each such memorandum of agreement. (c) In order to provide statewide paramedic services, the counties shall provide the following minimum number of paramedic staff hours: 122,640 paramedic staff hours per year for New Castle County; 52,560 paramedic staff hours per year for Kent County; and 87,600 paramedic staff hours per year for Sussex County. The Secretary of the Department of Health and Social Services shall have the authority, subject to appropriation, to increase the minimum number of paramedic staff hours to ensure the efficient and effective operation of the statewide paramedic services program. At any time after enactment into law, following submission of an application by New Castle County subject to approval by the Secretary of the Department of Health and Social Services, the paramedic staff hours for New Castle County shall increase by 17,520 paramedic staff hours per year until January 1, 2001, at which time it shall increase by an additional 17,520 paramedic staff hours. (d) Each operating paramedic unit should be continuously staffed by 2 paramedics. Notwithstanding this requirement, the Board of Medical Licensure and Discipline, following review and approval by the State EMS Medical Director and ALS Standards Committee, shall have the authority to grant approval to the county paramedic services to conduct pilot programs utilizing other staff configurations including but not limited to the number and type of staff on each operating ALS unit.
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