The Department of Health licenses several different types of medical assistants (MAs) as well as several types of emergency medical services (EMS) providers such as?emergency medical technicians (EMTs), advanced EMTs, and paramedics.?

?

An EMT is a person authorized by the Secretary of Health (Secretary) to render emergency medical care under the responsible supervision and direction of an approved medical program director (MPD), which may include?participating in an emergency services supervisory organization or a community assistance referral and education services program; or providing collaborative medical care if the participation or provision of collaborative medical care does not exceed the participant's training and certification.

?

A paramedic is a person who has been trained in an approved program to perform all phases of prehospital emergency medical care, including advanced life support, under an MPD's or approved physician's delegate written or oral authorization, and examined and certified by the Secretary.

?

An advanced EMT is?a person who has been examined and certified by the Secretary as an intermediate life support technician.?

A?medical assistant-EMT (MA-EMT) is defined as a registered person who holds an EMT certification, an advanced EMT certification, or a paramedic certification, and who performs the authorized duties under the supervision of a health care practitioner.

?

Certification. Any person with an EMT or paramedic certification is eligible for a MA-EMT certification with no additional training or examination requirements if the EMT, advanced EMT, or paramedic certification is in good standing.? The Secretary must issue an MA-EMT certification to any person who meets the MA-EMT qualifications. The qualifications must be consistent with the qualifications for the EMT certification, the advanced EMT certification, or the paramedic certification.

?

No individual may practice as an MA-EMT unless the individual is certified.

?

An MA-EMT certification is transferable?only between licensed hospitals in the state.

Authorized Duties. MA-EMTs may perform the following duties delegated by, and under the supervision of, a health care practitioner if the duties are within the scope,?training, endorsements of the MA-EMT's EMT, advanced EMT,?or paramedic certification:

• fundamental procedures: disposing of biohazardous materials and practicing standard precautions;
• clinical procedures: taking vital signs; preparing patients for examination; observing and reporting patients' signs or symptoms; simple eye irrigation; hemorrhage control with direct pressure or hemostatic gauze; spinal and extremity motion restriction and immobilization; oxygen administration; airway maintenance, stabilization, and suctioning; cardiopulmonary resuscitation; and use of automated external defibrillators and semiautomated external defibrillators;
• specimen collection: capillary puncture and venipuncture and instructing patients in proper technique to collect urine and fecal specimens;
• diagnostic testing: electrocardiography and respiratory testing, including nasopharyngeal swabbing for COVID-19;
• patient care: telephone and in-person screening, limited to intake and gathering of information without requiring the exercise of judgment based on clinical knowledge; obtaining vital signs; obtaining and recording patient history; and preparing and maintaining examination and treatment areas;
• administering medications; and
• intravenous injections.

?

An MA-EMT may only administer medications if the drugs are administered only by unit or single dosage, or by a dosage calculated and verified by a health care practitioner; limited to vaccines, opioid antagonists, and oral glucose authorized by a health care practitioner under the scope of their license and consistent with rules adopted by Secretary of Health; and administered pursuant to a health care practitioner's written order.

?

An MA-EMT may establish intravenous lines for diagnostic or therapeutic purposes, without administering medications, and remove intravenous lines under the health care practitioner's supervision.

?

The Secretary may adopt rules to further limit the drugs that an MA-EMT may administer. The adopted rules must limit the drugs based on risk, class, or route.