AN ACT CONCERNING EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES RESPONSE TIME TRANSPARENCY.

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General Assembly Substitute Bill No. 238
February Session, 2026

AN ACT CONCERNING EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES
RESPONSE TIME TRANSPARENCY.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:

Section 1. Subdivision (8) of section 19a-177 of the general statutes is 1
repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 2
1, 2026): 3
(8) (A) Develop an emergency medical services data collection 4
system. Each emergency medical service organization licensed or 5
certified pursuant to this chapter shall submit data to the commissioner, 6
on a [quarterly] monthly basis, from each licensed ambulance service, 7
certified ambulance service or paramedic intercept service that provides 8
emergency medical services. Such submitted data shall include, but not 9
be limited to: (i) The total number of and reasons for calls for emergency 10
medical services received by such licensed ambulance service, certified 11
ambulance service or paramedic intercept service through the 9 -1-1 12
system during the reporting period; (ii) each level of emergency medical 13
services, as defined in regulations adopted pursuant to section 19a-179, 14
required for each such call; (iii) the response time for each licensed 15
ambulance service, certified ambulance service or paramedic intercept 16
service during the reporting period; (iv) the number of passed calls, 17
cancelled calls and mutual aid calls, both made and received, during the 18
reporting period; and (v) for the reporting period, the prehospital data 19
for the nonscheduled transport of patients required by regulations 20
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adopted pursuant to subdivision (6) of this section. The data required 21
under this subdivision may be submitted in any electronic form selected 22
by such licensed ambulance service, certified ambulance service or 23
paramedic intercept service and approved by the commissioner, 24
provided the commissioner shall take into consideration the needs of 25
such licensed ambulance service, certified ambulance service or 26
paramedic intercept service in approving such electronic form. The 27
commissioner may conduct an audit of any such licensed ambulance 28
service, certified ambulance service or paramedic intercept service as 29
the commissioner deems necessary in order to verify the accuracy of 30
such reported data. 31
(B) On or before June 1, 2023 , and annually thereafter, the 32
commissioner shall prepare a report to the Emergency Medical Services 33
Advisory Board, established pursuant to section 19a -178a, that shall 34
include, but not be limited to, the following data: (i) The total number 35
of calls for emergency medical services received during the reporting 36
year by each licensed ambulance service, certified ambulance service or 37
paramedic intercept service; (ii) the level of emergency medical services 38
required for each such call; (iii) the name of the emergency medical 39
service organization that provided each such level of emergency 40
medical services furnished during the reporting year; (iv) the response 41
time, by time ranges or fractile response times, for each licensed 42
ambulance service, certified ambulance service or paramedic intercept 43
service, using a common definition of response time, as provided in 44
regulations adopted pursuant to section 19a -179; (v) the number of 45
passed calls, cancelled calls and mutual aid calls during the reporting 46
year; and (vi) any shortage of emergency medical services personnel in 47
the state. The commissioner shall prepare such report in a format that 48
categorizes such data for each municipality in which the emergency 49
medical services were provided, with each such municipality grouped 50
according to urban, suburban and rural classifications. 51
(C) If any licensed ambulance service, certified ambulance service or 52
paramedic intercept service does not submit the data required under 53
subparagraph (A) of this subdivision for a period of six consecutive 54
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months, or if the commissioner believes that such licensed ambulance 55
service, certified ambulance service or paramedic intercept service 56
knowingly or intentionally submitted incomplete or false data, the 57
commissioner shall issue a written order directing such licensed 58
ambulance service, certified ambulance service or paramedic intercept 59
service to comply with the provisions of subparagraph (A) of this 60
subdivision and submit all missing data or such corrected data as the 61
commissioner may require. If such licensed ambulance service, certified 62
ambulance service or paramedic intercept service fails to fully comply 63
with such order not later than three months from the date such order is 64
issued, the commissioner (i) shall conduct a hearing, in accordance with 65
chapter 54, at which such licensed ambulance service, certified 66
ambulance service or paramedic intercept service shall be required to 67
show cause why the primary service area assignment of such licensed 68
ambulance service, certified ambulance service or paramedic intercept 69
service should not be revoked, and (ii) may take such disciplinary action 70
under section 19a-17 as the commissioner deems appropriate. 71
(D) The commissioner shall collect the data required by 72
subparagraph (A) of this subdivision, in the manner provided in said 73
subparagraph, from each emergency medical service organization 74
licensed or certified pursuant to this chapter. Any such emergency 75
medical service organization that fails to comply with the provisions of 76
this section shall be liable for a civil penalty not to exceed one hundred 77
dollars per day for each failure to report the required data regarding 78
emergency medical services provided to a patient, as determined by the 79
commissioner. The civil penalties set forth in this subparagraph shall be 80
assessed only after the department provides a written notice of 81
deficiency and the organization is afforded the opportunity to respond 82
to such notice. An organization shall have not more than fifteen business 83
days after the date of receiving such notice to provide a written response 84
to the department. The commissioner may adopt regulations, in 85
accordance with chapter 54, concerning the development, 86
implementation, monitoring and collection of emergency medical 87
service system data. All state agencies licensed or certified as emergency 88
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medical service organizations shall be exempt from the civil penalties 89
set forth in this subparagraph. 90
(E) The commissioner shall, with the recommendation of the 91
Connecticut Emergency Medical Services Advisory Board established 92
pursuant to section 19a-178a, adopt for use in trauma data collection the 93
most recent version of the National Trauma Data Bank's National 94
Trauma Data Standards and Data Dictionary and nationally recognized 95
guidelines for field triage of injured patients. 96
(F) On or before June 1, 2024, and annually thereafter, the 97
commissioner shall submit the report described in subparagraph (B) of 98
this subdivision, in accordance with the provisions of section 11 -4a, to 99
the joint standing committee of the General Assembly having 100
cognizance of matters relating to public health. 101
(G) The commissioner shall establish and maintain an emergency 102
medical services response time dashboard. Such dashboard (i) shall be 103
capable of collecting and displaying emergency medical services 104
response time data to the public, disaggregated by geography, call type 105
and time of day, and (ii) shall not include any patient identifying 106
information. The Commissioners of Public Health, Social Services and 107
Emergency Services and Public Protection shall use data obtained from 108
the emergency medical services response time dashboard to support 109
any applications for federal emergency medical services response grants 110
and direct such grants to the communities in greatest need for improved 111
emergency medical services response times; 112
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:

Section 1 October 1, 2026 19a-177(8)

PH Joint Favorable Subst.
APP Joint Favorable