§22-11D-8. Rules and regulations.

(a) In accordance with the Alabama Administrative Procedure Act, the board, with the advice and after approval of the council, shall promulgate rules to implement and administer this chapter. Rules promulgated by the board may include, but are not limited to, the following:

(1) Criteria to ensure that severely injured or ill people are promptly transported and treated at designated trauma centers appropriate to the severity of the injury. Minimum criteria shall address emergency medical service trauma triage and transportation guidelines as approved under the board's emergency medical services rules, designation of health care facilities as trauma centers, interhospital transfers, and a trauma system governance structure.

(2) Standards for verification of trauma and health care center status which assign level designations based on resources available within the facility. Standards shall be based upon national guidelines, including, but not limited to, those established by the American College of Surgeons, entitled Hospital and Pre-hospital Resources for Optimal Care of the Injured Patient, and any published appendices thereto.

(3) Communication systems used by participating trauma centers and emergency medical services.

(4) Verification and adjustment of trauma center status.

(5) Specifications for centralized dispatch.

(6) Dividing the state into emergency management services regions to ensure that all parts of the state are within a region. The regional designations shall be made on the basis of efficiency of delivery of needed trauma care.

(7) Establishing regional trauma advisory councils and designating their roles and responsibilities.

(8) Designating levels of trauma centers.

(9) Specifying activation requirements for air ambulances conducting scene flights. The board shall not regulate in any manner the activation or operations of fixed-wing providers that do not conduct scene flights.

(10) Quality assurance requirements and evaluation methodologies.

(11) Statewide trauma registry data elements and data collection.

(b) The board, with the advice and approval of the council, may designate other illnesses, such as stroke, which require coordination of emergency medical hospital care and may develop other statewide programs and registries modeled after the statewide trauma program.

(Act 2007-299, p. 541, §8; Act 2012-526, p. 1556, §1.)