Legislature(2025 - 2026)DAVIS 106
02/18/2025 03:15 PM House HEALTH & SOCIAL SERVICES
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| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| HB73 | |
| HB70 | |
| HB27 | |
| HB14 | |
| Overview(s): Child Advocacy Centers | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| += | HB 73 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| *+ | HB 70 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| *+ | HB 27 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| *+ | HB 14 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
| + | TELECONFERENCED |
HB 27-MEDICAL MAJOR EMERGENCIES
4:07:32 PM
REPRESENTATIVE MEARS announced that the next order of business
would be HOUSE BILL NO. 27, "An Act relating to medical care for
major emergencies."
4:07:43 PM
CHAIR MINA, as prime sponsor of HB 27, gave the sponsor
statement [included in the committee file], which read as
follows [original punctuation provided]:
A coordinated statewide system of care enhances the
chance of survival in life-threatening, time-critical
emergencies in adults and children. Trauma and
specific medical emergencies addressed within this
system ensure that Alaskans receive care from the
"right person, at the right place, at the right time."
Trauma, strokes, and heart attacks represent the
leading causes of death in Alaska. In 2022 alone, 744
Alaskans died from trauma, 217 died from strokes, and
510 died from died from cardiovascular disease such as
a heart attack. By enabling a statewide systems of
care approach for major emergencies, death rates
caused by these time-sensitive emergencies can
improve. Importantly, these are conditions for which
interventions exist that can markedly alter their
otherwise dismal prognoses.
HB 27 seeks to expand the scope of the Section of
Rural and Community Health Systems within the
Department
of Health to include strokes and severe heart attacks
in:
• Developing training programs for ambulance and first
responder services on a standardized protocol.
• Communicating the urgency of the patient's condition
to the local receiving hospital or clinic.
• Assist in establishing statewide guidelines, helping
physicians and advanced practice practitioners
determine if local treatment is appropriate or to
expedite transport to the suitable treatment facility.
This legislation also focuses on expanding AS
18.08.010 and AS 18.08.200, allowing the Department of
Health (DOH) to replicate those systems and processes
that have improved trauma care and apply those
principles to stroke and severe heart attacks.
With the success of the Trauma Center program, HB 27
will ensure that the receiving specialty hospitals
meet DOH-adopted national criteria for being a
voluntary stroke or heart attack center. It also
establishes a registry specific to these major
emergencies, a means to measure outcomes, and guide
changes that will inevitably be needed.
The overall goal of HB 27 is that a trauma, cardiac,
or stroke patient returns home as a functional member
of the community and embraces life changes that will
improve their future health.
4:12:35 PM
KATY GIORGIO, Staff, Representative Genevieve Mina, Alaska State
Legislature, on behalf of Representative Mina, prime sponsor of
HB 27, gave the sectional analysis [included in the committee
file], which read as follows [original punctuation provided]:
Section 1. Amends AS 18.08.010
Section 1, subsections 1-3 adds "major emergencies" to
the existing emergency medical services (EMS) system.
Currently, only trauma care appears in statute, and
the addition of "major emergencies" will allow the
Department of Health (DOH) to include time-sensitive
emergencies such as heart attacks and strokes to their
EMS review system.
Section 1, subsection 4, addresses the trauma center
designation status for hospitals and clinics and gives
the statutory authority for DOH to adopt criteria for
those health centers to represent themselves as being
capable of treating major emergencies.
Section 2. Amends AS 18.08.200 by adding a new
paragraph:
This is the definition section for the chapter, and
"major emergency" is added and defined as heart attack
and stroke.
4:13:37 PM
REPRESENTATIVE MEARS invited committee questions.
4:13:52 PM
REPRESENTATIVE RUFFRIDGE said he understood why heart attack and
stroke were chosen as major medical emergencies, as they are
clear options. He then cited the current statutory definition
of medical care as "services utilized in responding to a
perceived need for medical care to prevent loss of life". He
questioned the need to define major emergency as being just two
types of medical situations.
CHAIR MINA replied, "My understanding is that what we have in
statute for the duties and responsibilities of the Office of EMS
is only situated to what is in statute. And so, to be able to
clearly define the different instances of major medical
emergencies, like strokes and heart attacks, I think we do have
to put that in statute clearly." That said, she deferred to
Gene Wiseman.
4:15:39 PM
GENE WISEMAN, Chief, Section of Rural and Community Health
Systems, Division of Public Health, Department of Health (DOH),
noted that AS [18.08.010] specifies "trauma" [in relation to
emergency medical services]. He stated, "At the time of the
writing of that statute, trauma had known outcome for
coordinated care." He spoke about the finite timeframes related
to heart attack and stroke "that require a higher level of
system coordination to occur." He offered further details.
REPRESENTATIVE RUFFRIDGE summarized that Mr. Wiseman had said
that because trauma care is specifically defined, then major
emergencies also must be specifically defined, which led him to
ask whether the statute could be broadened by replacing "trauma
care" and "major emergencies" with "plan and deliver emergency
medical services".
MR. WISEMAN responded that EMS responds to all emergencies. He
indicated that the statute facilitates the building of a system
of care that encompasses trauma, stroke, and heart attack. This
requires collaboration, subject experts, and monitoring. He
offered examples. He concluded, "Without it being in there, ...
potentially, it doesn't allow us ... that focus on the
collaboration."
4:22:08 PM
REPRESENTATIVE GRAY proffered that HB 27 is more of a "clean-up
bill," because it is proposing to put into statute "that which
we are already do." He remarked that he knows no one in the
field of medicine who will say, "Well, now that it's in statute,
we'll start taking strokes and heart attacks seriously." That,
he emphasized, has already been happening for decades.
4:23:26 PM
REPRESENTATIVE MEARS announced that HB 27 was held over.