Sec. 773.045. SPECIALIZED EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES PROVIDER QUALIFICATIONS. (a) A provider using a vehicle, including a helicopter, boat, fixed-wing aircraft, or ground vehicle, qualifies as a specialized emergency medical services provider if:

(1) the vehicle is designed for transporting the sick or injured by air, water, or ground transportation; and

(2) the provider has personnel and sufficient equipment and supplies to provide for the specialized needs of the patient transported.

(b) A rotor or fixed-wing aircraft and staff based in this state and used to transport a patient by stretcher and that holds itself out as an air ambulance service is required to be licensed by the department.

(c) An air ambulance company based in another state that transports patients from a point in this state is required to be licensed by the department as an emergency medical services provider. The department shall issue a license to an air ambulance company under this subsection if the company applies as required by this chapter and has met the qualifications specified in department rules for safely transporting patients. An air ambulance company accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Medical Transport Systems is rebuttably presumed to have met the department's qualifications.

(d) An air ambulance company licensed under Subsection (c) must include information regarding the physical location of the company's base operations in any advertising by the company in this state. This subsection does not prohibit an air ambulance company with multiple locations from listing those locations in advertising, provided that the air ambulance company meets all the provisions of this chapter.

(e) An air ambulance company that is not located in this state and that advertises within this state must have at least one physical location in this state.

(f) This section does not require an air transportation provider to be licensed if, in addition to the company's normal air transportation service, the air transportation company provides only voluntary, mercy-flight transportation at the company's own expense.

Acts 1989, 71st Leg., ch. 678, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1989. Amended by Acts 1991, 72nd Leg., ch. 14, Sec. 245, eff. Sept. 1, 1991; Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 376, Sec. 2, eff. Sept. 1, 1993; Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 915, Sec. 6, eff. Aug. 28, 1995; Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 1182, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1997.

Amended by:

Acts 2015, 84th Leg., R.S., Ch. 1 (S.B. 219), Sec. 3.1524, eff. April 2, 2015.