Emergency physicians with EMS leadership roles such as Medical Control Authority Medical Directors are very active in Michigan. Physicians now respond to emergencies along with police, fire, and EMS crews, and this has drastically improved the quality of medical care. Many of these MCA physicians have response vehicles that can fully integrate with the rest of the team. Unfortunately, the current legislation for authorizing emergency vehicles (MCL 257.2) was passed prior to such MCA physician involvement and as a result, physicians must enter into convoluted agreements with other agencies; often the same agencies that are providing medical direction, which can lead to a conflict of interest. The MCEP EMS Committee has therefore proposed an amendment to MCL 257.2 and has been reaching out to state legislators to build ground-level support.
The most substantive proposed changes (bold type): “Vehicles of the fire department, police vehicles, ambulances, privately owned motor vehicles of volunteer or paid firefighters, or volunteer members of an emergency rescue unit if authorized by the chief of an organized fire department, a county sheriff, or the director of the department of state police, or privately owned motor vehicles of volunteer or paid members of a life support agency licensed by the department of licensing and regulatory affairs if authorized by the life support agency.”
We welcome input from our MCEP members online and in-person!
