Policy
Interstate Interfacility Medical Transport Act
An act to provide for a coordinated national Emergency Medical Services program and establishment of interfacility medical transport standards in interstate commerce to reduce delay in patient care.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States in Congress assembled, that Congress hereby declares that the purpose of this Act is to reduce delays in patient care resulting from interstate inter-facility medical transport crew configuration discrepancies. Therefore, Congress determines that it is necessary to establish interfacility transport standards for emergency medical service crews, vehicles, and equipment in interstate commerce; and to undertake and support necessary research and development.
The language of the authorizing legislation above mirrors the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1966. Just as that law was broad enough for the then Secretary of Commerce to shape the agency and its rules, so too NHTSA should have the ability to determine the design of inter-facility transport. The language should be narrow enough to exclude medical transport conducted within one state’s boundary.
