| (a) Allocations determination under Texas Health and
Safety Code §773.122 and Health and Safety Code Chapter 780.
(1) Department determination. The department determines
each year:
(A) eligibility criteria for emergency medical services
(EMS), trauma service area (TSA), and hospital allocations; and
(B) the amount of EMS, TSA, and hospital allocations
based on language described in Texas Health and Safety Code §773.122
and Chapter 780.
(2) Eligibility requirements. To be eligible for funding
from the accounts, all potential recipients must maintain the regional
participation requirements.
(3) Extraordinary emergency funding.
(A) To be eligible to receive extraordinary emergency
funding, an entity must meet the following requirements:
(i) be a licensed EMS provider, a designated trauma
facility, or a recognized first responder organization (FRO);
(ii) submit a completed application and any additional
documentation requested by the department; and
(iii) provide documentation of active participation
in its local Regional Advisory Council (RAC).
(B) Incomplete applications will not be considered
for extraordinary emergency funding.
(4) EMS allocation.
(A) The department contracts with each eligible RAC
to distribute the county funds to eligible EMS providers based within
counties aligned with the relevant TSA.
(i) The department evaluates submitted support documents
per the contract statement of work. Awarded funds must be used in
addition to current operational EMS funding of eligible recipients
and must not supplant the operational budget.
(ii) Funds are allocated by county to be awarded to
eligible providers in each county. Funds are non-transferable to other
counties within the RAC if there are no eligible providers in a county.
(B) Eligible EMS providers may contribute funds for
a specified purpose within the TSA when:
(i) all EMS providers received communication regarding
the intent of the contributed funds;
(ii) the EMS providers voted and approved by majority
vote to contribute funds; and
(iii) all EMS providers that did not support contributing
funds, receive the eligible funding.
(C) To be eligible for funding from the EMS allocation,
providers must:
(i) maintain and comply with all licensure requirements
as described in §157.11 of this chapter (relating to Requirements
for an EMS Provider License);
(ii) follow RAC regional guidelines regarding patient
destination and transport in all TSAs where EMS is provided and verified
by each RAC;
(iii) notify the RACs of any potential eligibility
to receive funds and meet the RACs' participation requirements, if
a provider is contracted to provide EMS within a county of any one
TSA and whose county of licensure is another county not in or contiguous
with that TSA; and
(iv) provide the department evidence of a contract
or letter of agreement with each additional county government or taxing
authority in which EMS is provided in any county beyond its county
of licensure.
(D) Contracts or letters of agreement must be submitted
to the department on or before the stated department contract deadline
of the respective year and provide evidence of continued coverage
throughout the effective contract dates for which the eligibility
of the EMS provider is being considered.
(E) EMS providers with contracts or letters of agreement
on file with the department meeting the effective contract dates do
not need to resubmit a copy of the contract or letter of agreement
unless it has expired or will expire before the effective date of
the next contract.
(F) The submitted contracts or letters of agreement
must include effective dates to determine continued eligibility.
(G) Inter-facility transfer letters of agreement and
contracts or mutual aid letters of agreement and contracts do not
meet the requirement of a county contract.
(H) EMS providers are responsible for ensuring all
contracts or letters of agreement have been received by the department
on or before the listed deadline to be considered for eligibility.
(I) Air ambulance providers must meet the same requirements
as ground transport EMS providers to be eligible to receive funds
from a specific county other than the county of licensure.
(J) If an EMS provider is licensed in a particular
county for a service area considered a geo-political subdivision and
whose boundary lines cross multiple county lines, it will be considered
eligible for the EMS Allocation for all counties overlapped by that
geo-political subdivision's boundary lines. Verification from local
jurisdictions will be requested for every county that comprises the
geo-political subdivision to determine funding eligibility for each
county. The eligibility of EMS providers whose county of licensure
is in a geo-political subdivision other than those listed in clauses
(i) - (v) of this subparagraph will be evaluated on a case-by-case
basis. Geo-political subdivisions include:
(i) municipalities;
(ii) school districts;
(iii) emergency service districts (ESDs);
(iv) utility districts; or
(v) prison districts.
(5) TSA allocation.
(A) The department contracts with eligible RACs to
distribute the funds for the operation of the 22 TSAs and for equipment,
communications, education, and training for the areas.
(B) To be eligible to distribute funding on behalf
of eligible recipients in each county to the TSA, a RAC must be:
(i) officially recognized by the department as described
in §157.123 of this subchapter (relating to Regional Advisory
Councils);
(ii) in compliance with all RAC performance criteria,
have a current RAC self-assessment, and have a current regional trauma
and emergency health care system plan; and
(iii) incorporated as an entity exempt from federal
income tax under Section 501(a), Internal Revenue Code of 1986, and
its subsequent amendments by being listed as an exempt organization
under Section 501(c)(3).
(C) The TSA allocation distributed under this paragraph
is based on the relative geographic size and population of each TSA
and on the relative amount of trauma care provided.
(6) Hospital allocation. The department distributes
funds to designated trauma facilities to subsidize a portion of uncompensated
trauma care provided or to enhance the facility's delivery of trauma
care.
(A) Funds distributed from the hospital allocations
are made based on:
(i) the hospital being designated as a trauma facility
by the department as defined in Texas Health and Safety Code Chapter
773;
(ii) the percentage of the hospital's uncompensated
trauma care cost for patients meeting the National Trauma Data Bank
(NTDB) registry inclusion criteria relative to the total uncompensated
trauma care cost reported for the identified patient population by
qualified facilities that year;
(iii) availability of funds; and
(iv) submission of a complete application to the department
within the stated time frame. Incomplete applications will not be
considered.
(B) Additional information may be requested by the
department to determine eligibility for funding.
(C) A designated trauma facility in receipt of funding
from the hospital allocation that fails to maintain its designation
as required in §157.125 of this subchapter (relating to Requirements
for Trauma Facility Designation Effective Through August 31, 2025)
and §157.126 of this subchapter (relating to Trauma Facility
Designation Requirements Effective on September 1, 2025), must return
to the department all hospital allocation funds received in the prior
12 months within 90 days of failure to maintain trauma designation.
(D) The department may grant an exception to subparagraph
(C) of this paragraph if it finds compliance with this section would
not be in the best interest of the persons served in the affected
local system.
(E) A facility must have no outstanding balance owed
to the department or other state agencies before receiving any future
disbursements from the hospital allocation.
(7) Department allocations. The department's process
for funding allocations defined in this subsection applies to the
account defined in Texas Health and Safety Code Chapter 780 and includes
designated trauma facilities and those in active pursuit of trauma
designation in the funding allocation.
Cont'd... |
