2025 Session Last amended: 2012 session

§ 144E.127 — Interhospital and Interfacility Transfers

Plain-Language Summary

This section allows ambulance services to use substitute medical staff when transferring patients between hospitals or other medical facilities. During hospital-to-hospital transfers, a physician, nurse, or physician assistant can take the place of one ambulance crew member if they know the ambulance equipment and protocols. Rural services get additional staffing flexibility for interfacility transfers.

Practical Notes
This flexibility is especially important for rural ambulance services that may have limited staff. Services outside the Twin Cities metro area and other major cities can substitute an emergency medical responder for an EMT during facility transfers, as long as a qualified provider is in the patient compartment. The substitute medical staff must be trained on the ambulance equipment.