The report stated that calls for non-emergency ambulance assistance “are depleting the limited resources of DPS…and hampering ambulance assistance for actual emergency calls.”
House Bill 16-11, which the committee supports, seeks to lessen the load of the department in responding to non-emergency calls.
In an interview on Monday, the committee chairman, Rep. Ralph DLG Torres, R-Saipan said the bill will be sent to the House floor when it holds a session on Thursday.
The measure to regulate private ambulance services also paves the way for a new business that will bring in additional revenues to the commonwealth, Torres added.
Introduced in May, the bill originally required the Department of Public Health to regulate private ambulance services, but since DPS already handles all ambulatory transportation, both emergency and non-emergency, the measure was amended.
The bill allows a private ambulance to serve non-emergency patients.
Under the bill, DPS may grant a private ambulance a temporary authority to transport an emergency case but this authority is valid for a specified period not to exceed 90 days and may not be renewed.
