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In this article:
(1) AMBULANCE means any motor vehicle constructed, reconstructed, arranged, equipped, or used for the purpose of transporting sick, injured, or deceased persons.
(2) AMBULANCE CALL means the act of responding with an ambulance, for compensation, to a request for transportation of a sick, injured, or deceased person.
(3) AMBULANCE PERSONNEL means a person who for compensation has the duty of performing or assisting in the performance of an ambulance call, including driving or acting as an attendant on an ambulance.
(4) CITY means the city of Dallas, Texas.
(5) CONVICTION means a conviction in a federal court or a court of any state or foreign nation or political subdivision of a state or foreign nation that has not been reversed, vacated, or pardoned.
(6) DIRECTOR means the director of the department designated by the city manager to enforce and administer this article, or the director’s authorized representative.
(7) EMERGENCY means any circumstance that calls for immediate action and in which the element of time in transporting a sick or injured person for medical treatment or in providing treatment for a sick or injured person is essential to the health, life, or limb of the person. Such circumstances include, but are not limited to, accidents generally, acts of violence resulting in personal injury, and sudden illnesses.
(8) EMERGENCY AMBULANCE means an ambulance specially designed, constructed, equipped, and used for transporting the sick or injured in answer to an emergency call.
(9) EMERGENCY CALL means any request for ambulance service that is made by telephone or other means of communication in circumstances that are, or have been represented to be, an emergency.
(10) EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES means services used to respond to an individual’s perceived need for immediate medical care and to prevent death or aggravation of physiological or psychological illness or injury.
(11) EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES VEHICLE means any motor vehicle constructed, reconstructed, arranged, equipped, or used in the mobile community healthcare program by the fire department for the purpose of providing emergency medical services but not for transporting sick, injured, or deceased persons.
(12) EMERGENCY PATIENT means a person in whom a sickness or injury may cause a significant risk to the person’s life or limb. Such sickness or injury may include, but is not limited to, trauma (major injury to the body, head, or extremities), chest pain, abdominal pain, unconsciousness, delirium, imminent delivery of a child, and serious infection.
(13) EMERGENCY PREHOSPITAL CARE means care provided to the sick or injured during emergency transportation to a medical facility and includes any necessary stabilization of the sick or injured in connection with that transportation.
(14) EMERGENCY RUN means an emergency ambulance trip, requiring the use of warning lights or sirens, to the place where an emergency exists or from the place of the emergency to a hospital, medical clinic or office, or other appropriate destination for the patient.
(15) FIRE ALARM DISPATCHER means the central communications center of the fire department.
(16) FIRE CHIEF means the chief of the fire department or the chief’s duly authorized representative.
(17) FIRE DEPARTMENT means the fire department of the city of Dallas, Texas.
(18) FIRE DEPARTMENT PARAMEDIC means a fire department employee certified as a paramedic by the Texas Department of State Health Services.
(18.1) HARDSHIP ASSISTANCE means the reduction of ambulance service charges assessed to a transported patient or the payment-responsible party on behalf of a transported patient approved by the city manager, department director, or designee.
(19) LAWFUL ORDER means a verbal or written directive issued by the director in the performance of official duties in the enforcement of this chapter and any rules and regulations promulgated under this chapter.
(20) LICENSE means written authorization issued by the director for a person to operate a private ambulance service within the city.
(21) LICENSEE means a person licensed under this article to engage in private ambulance service. The term includes any owner, operator, driver, ambulance personnel, employee, or agent of the licensed business, but does not include a subcontractor.
(22) MEDICAL DIRECTOR means a physician licensed by the Texas Medical Board who is under contract with the city to be responsible for all aspects of the provision of emergency medical services within the city under Title 22 of the Texas Administrative Code Chapter 197, as amended.
(23) MUTUAL AID CALL means a request for emergency ambulance service issued by one political jurisdiction to a neighboring political jurisdiction.
(24) NEONATE/ PEDIATRIC TRANSPORT PERSONNEL means a registered nurse, physician, or respiratory therapist specially trained in the emergency and transport care of newborn and pediatric patients.
(25) OPERATE means to drive or to be in control of an ambulance.
(26) OPERATOR means the driver of an ambulance, the owner of an ambulance, or the holder of a private ambulance service license.
(27) OWNER means the person to whom state license plates for a vehicle were issued.
(28) PERMIT means written authorization issued by the director for a person to act as an ambulance personnel on a private ambulance within the city.
(29) PERMITTEE means a person who has been issued an ambulance personnel permit by the director under this article.
(30) PERSON means any individual, corporation, business, trust, partnership, association, or other legal entity.
(31) POLICE CHIEF means the chief of police of the city of Dallas or the chief’s duly authorized representative.
(32) PRIVATE AMBULANCE means an ambulance constructed, equipped, and used for transporting sick, injured, or deceased persons under circumstances that do not constitute an emergency and have not been represented as an emergency.
(33) PRIVATE AMBULANCE SERVICE means the business of transporting, for compensation, sick, injured, or deceased persons under circumstances that do not constitute an emergency and have not been represented as an emergency.
(34) SPECIAL EVENT means any parade, sporting event, concert, or other event or gathering requiring on-site standby medical personnel.
(35) STREET means any street, alley, avenue, boulevard, drive, or highway commonly used for the purpose of travel within the corporate limits of the city.
(Ord. Nos. 21861; 29544; 31289)
(a) The fire department shall provide all emergency ambulance service within the city.
(b) The city shall charge the following fees for emergency ambulance services in the city provided in response to a call received by the fire department requesting the services:
(1) $1,473 for each transport of a resident of the city of Dallas to a hospital and $1,868 for each transport of a nonresident of the city of Dallas to a hospital.
(2) $125 for treatment of a person who is not transported by ambulance.
(3) The reasonable cost of any expendable items that are medically required to be used on a person transported by ambulance or treated without being transported by ambulance, including but not limited to drugs, dressings and bandages, airways, oxygen masks, intravenous fluids and equipment, syringes, and needles.
(4) The reasonable cost of any EKG/telemetry that is medically required to be performed on a person transported by ambulance or treated without being transported by ambulance.
(5) The reasonable cost of each additional paramedic over two that is medically required to respond to an emergency call.
(6) $10 for each loaded mile of transport by ambulance, beginning when the patient is loaded into the ambulance and ending upon arrival at the hospital.
(c) The person receiving emergency ambulance service, whether transported by ambulance or treated without being transported by ambulance, and any person contracting for the service shall be responsible for payment of all fees less any reduction in fees received from hardship assistance. In the case of service received by a minor, the parent or guardian of the minor shall be responsible for payment of all fees less any reduction in fees received from hardship assistance on behalf of the qualifying minor.
(d) A current list of charges for the items, services, and personnel described in Subsections (b)(3), (4), and (5) must be maintained in the office of the emergency medical services division of the fire department and made available for public inspection during normal business hours.
(e) The city manager or his or her designee shall adopt an ambulance hardship assistance policy and the procedures for administering the policy.
(a) Findings and purpose.
(1) The city incurs significant expense related to the health emergencies of its citizens. Fire department paramedics are especially skilled at providing certain emergency medical services. Many of the emergency medical services provided by fire department paramedics are beneficial in the transport of sick or injured persons, as well as in responding to a person’s perceived need for immediate medical care.
(2) The city’s mobile community healthcare program is designed to:
(A) support efficient and effective emergency medical services within the city;
(B) provide health education to residents;
(C) assess living environments that may be dangerous or detrimental to a citizen’s health and could contribute to an emergency situation; and
(D) respond to certain emergency medical situations by providing vaccinations and immunizations.
(3) The mobile community healthcare program is also intended to promote health and safety by referring mobile healthcare program participants to appropriate professionals and organizations in the community.
(4) Because police and fire personnel encounter many individuals while performing their duties, protecting those personnel from communicable diseases using appropriate vaccines or immunizations reduces the spread of such diseases and reduces the number of personnel unavailable to protect the safety of the public.
(b) General provisions.
(1) Texas Health and Safety Code Chapter 773, as amended, and Title 22 of the Texas Administrative Code Chapter 197, as amended, authorize fire department paramedics that are supervised by a physician licensed to practice medicine in Texas to provide emergency medical services.
(2) Under the mobile community healthcare program, fire department paramedics that are under the supervision of a physician licensed to practice medicine in Texas may use emergency medical services vehicles to provide emergency medical services, including immunization and vaccinations, to:
(A) individuals that meet criteria established by the director;
(B) individuals identified through a contract executed under Paragraph (5) below; and
(C) police and fire personnel.
(3) The director shall promulgate standard operating procedures regarding emergency medical services provided by fire department paramedics as part of the mobile community healthcare program.
(4) A physician licensed to practice medicine in Texas shall develop, implement, and revise protocols and standing delegation orders regarding emergency medical services provided by the fire department paramedics as part of the mobile community healthcare program.
(5) The city may enter into contracts with hospitals within Dallas city limits authorizing fire department paramedics, through the mobile community healthcare program, to provide emergency medical services to certain individuals who reside in the city, meet criteria established by a contract, and are designated by the contracting hospital. These contracts with hospitals must:
(A) require that any emergency medical services provided by the fire department paramedics shall be provided under the supervision of the individual’s treating physician or the appropriate hospital medical staff and through the exercise of the supervising physician’s independent medical judgment;
(B) require that the hospital develop treatment protocols for their discharged individuals receiving emergency medical services from fire department paramedics through the mobile community healthcare program, and that those treatment protocols are deemed by the medical director to be within the scope of the fire department paramedics’ certification;
(C) require that any medications prescribed to individuals participating in the mobile community healthcare program will be prescribed by the individual’s treating physician or the appropriate hospital medical staff based on the prescribing physician’s relationship with the individual; and
(D) be reviewed and approved as to form by the compliance officer and director of risk management before consideration by city council.
(6) Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to restrict a physician from delegating administrative and technical or clinical tasks not involving the exercise of independent medical judgment to those specifically trained individuals instructed and directed by a licensed physician who accepts responsibility for the acts of such allied health personnel. Further, nothing shall be construed to relieve the supervising physician of the professional or legal responsibility for the care and treatment of his or her patients.
(c) Fees. The city shall charge a $252 per hour fee to hospitals utilizing emergency medical services in the city to provide mobile community healthcare. (Ord. Nos. 29544; 31332, eff. 10/1/19)
(a) Findings and purpose. The city partners with Emergency Medical Service ("EMS") training programs throughout the city. Through the partnerships, the city provides students in the programs the opportunity to participate in ride-outs with Dallas Fire-Rescue EMS personnel for the purpose of attaining the necessary training hours required for program completion.
(b) Fees. The city shall charge the following fees for all training ride-out services:
(1) $75 per emergency medical training internship college district student.
(2) $75 per emergency medical training paramedic corporate student. (Ord. 31332, eff. 10/1/19)
(a) A person who is not a member of the fire department or of an agency of the United States commits an offense if he furnishes, operates, conducts, maintains, advertises, or otherwise engages in or professes to be engaged in emergency ambulance service within the city, for the purpose of picking up emergency patients within the city, except in the following circumstances:
(1) A person shall operate an emergency ambulance within the city to render assistance during a catastrophe or major emergency if requested to do so by the fire alarm dispatcher when city-authorized emergency ambulances are determined to be insufficient in number or inadequate for other reasons.
(2) A person may operate an emergency ambulance within the city to render assistance to city- authorized emergency ambulances responding to a mutual aid call if requested to do so by the fire alarm dispatcher.
(3) A person may operate an emergency ambulance to a hospital within the city, if:
(A) the emergency patient was picked up by the ambulance outside the city limits;
(B) the ambulance making the emergency run is licensed and operated in accordance with the Emergency Medical Services Act (Chapter 773, Texas Health and Safety Code), as amended; and
(C) the person first notifies the fire alarm dispatcher of the route to be used in the emergency run.
(4) A licensee or permittee may operate a private ambulance within the city as a backup emergency ambulance if requested to do so by the fire alarm dispatcher when city-authorized emergency ambulances are not available.
(5) A permittee may operate a private ambulance on an emergency run if, upon responding to a direct call for nonemergency private ambulance service, the permittee determines that an emergency exists requiring the sick or injured person to be transported with all practical speed to a hospital and obtains permission from the fire alarm dispatcher to make the emergency run.
(6) A permittee may operate a private ambulance on an emergency run if, while performing the service of maintaining a private ambulance at a particular location for a special event, the permittee determines that an emergency exists requiring a sick or injured person to be transported with all practical speed to a hospital and obtains permission from the fire alarm dispatcher to make the emergency run.
(7) A permittee may operate a private ambulance on an emergency run to transport vital organs, including, but not limited to, hearts, lungs, kidneys, and eyes, to or from a hospital if the permittee obtains permission from the fire alarm dispatcher.
(8) A permittee may operate a private ambulance on an emergency run to transport a newborn or pediatric patient from a lower level skill facility to a higher level skill facility if:
(A) the patient’s doctor has determined that an emergency exists;
(B) the patient is accompanied by neonate/pediatric transport personnel; and
(C) the permittee obtains permission from the fire alarm dispatcher to make the emergency run.
(b) Any person who operates a licensed private ambulance on an emergency run under Subsection (a)(5), (6), (7), or (8) shall, within 30 days of each emergency run, submit to the director a report on a form provided for that purpose, describing the circumstances requiring the emergency run. (Ord. 21861)
(a) A person commits an offense if he operates a private ambulance service within the city without a valid private ambulance service license issued by the director.
(b) A person commits an offense if he advertises or causes to be advertised the operation of a private ambulance service that does not have a valid license granted under this article when the advertisement is reasonably calculated to be seen by persons seeking private ambulance service in the city.
(c) A person commits an offense if he transports or offers to transport, for compensation, a sick, injured, or deceased person by private ambulance from a location within the city to a location either inside or outside the city without holding or being employed by a person holding a valid license issued under this article.
(d) A person commits an offense if he hires or employs a private ambulance service to pick up a sick, injured, or deceased person in the city when he knows the private ambulance service does not have a valid license under this article.
(e) It is a defense to prosecution under Subsection (b) that the person was the publisher of the advertising material and had no knowledge that the private ambulance service did not have a valid license under this article. (Ord. 21861)
(a) To qualify for a private ambulance license, an applicant must:
(1) be at least 18 years of age;
(2) be currently authorized to work full-time in the United States;
(3) be able to communicate in the English language; and
(4) not have been convicted of a crime:
(A) involving:
(i) criminal homicide as described in Chapter 19 of the Texas Penal Code;
(ii) kidnapping as described in Chapter 20 of the Texas Penal Code;
(iii) a sexual offense as described in Chapter 21 of the Texas Penal Code;
(iv) robbery as described in Chapter 29 of the Texas Penal Code;
(v) burglary as described in Chapter 30 of the Texas Penal Code, but only if the offense was committed against a person with whom the applicant came in contact while engaged in private or emergency ambulance service;
(vi) theft as described in Chapter 31 of the Texas Penal Code, but only if the offense was committed against a person with whom the applicant came in contact while engaged in private or emergency ambulance service;
(vii) fraud as described in Chapter 32 of the Texas Penal Code, but only if the offense was committed against a person with whom the applicant came in contact while engaged in private or emergency ambulance service;
(viii) tampering with a govern- mental record as described in Chapter 37 of the Texas Penal Code, but only if the offense was committed against a person with whom the applicant came in contact while engaged in private or emergency ambulance service;
(ix) public indecency (prostitution or obscenity) as described in Chapter 43 of the Texas Penal Code;
(x) the transfer, carrying, or possession of a weapon in violation of Chapter 46 of the Texas Penal Code, or of any comparable state or federal law, but only if the violation is punishable as a felony under the applicable law;
(xi) a violation of the Dangerous Drugs Act (Article 4476-14, Vernon’s Texas Civil Statutes), or of any comparable state or federal law, that is punishable as a felony under the applicable law;
(xii) a violation of the Controlled Substances Act (Article 4476-15, Vernon’s Texas Civil Statutes), or of any comparable state or federal law, that is punishable as a felony under the applicable law; or
(xiii) criminal attempt to commit any of the offenses listed in Subdivision (4)(A)(i) through (xii) of this subsection;
(B) for which:
(i) less than two years have elapsed since the date of conviction or the date of release from confinement imposed for the conviction, whichever is the later date, if the applicant was convicted of a misdemeanor offense;
(ii) less than five years have elapsed since the date of conviction or the date of release from confinement for the conviction, whichever is the later date, if the applicant was convicted of a felony offense; or
(iii) less than five years have elapsed since the date of the last conviction or the date of release from confinement for the last conviction, whichever is the later date, if, within any 24-month period, the applicant has two or more convictions of any misdemeanor offense or combination of misdemeanor offenses;
(b) An applicant who has been convicted of an offense listed in Subsection (a)(4), for which the required time period has elapsed since the date of conviction or the date of release from confinement imposed for the conviction, may qualify for a license only if the director determines that the applicant is presently fit to provide private ambulance service. In determining present fitness under this section, the director shall consider the following:
(1) the extent and nature of the applicant’s past criminal activity;
(2) the age of the applicant at the time of the commission of the crime;
(3) the amount of time that has elapsed since the applicant’s last criminal activity;
(4) the conduct and work activity of the applicant prior to and following the criminal activity;
(5) evidence of the applicant’s rehabilitation or rehabilitative effort while incarcerated or following release; and
(6) other evidence of the applicant’s present fitness, including letters of recommendation from prosecution, law enforcement, and correctional officers who prosecuted, arrested, or had custodial responsibility for the applicant; the sheriff and chief of police in the community where the applicant resides; and any other persons in contact with the applicant.
(c) It is the responsibility of the applicant, to the extent possible, to secure and provide to the director the evidence required to determine present fitness under Subsection (b) of this section. (Ord. 21861)
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