The California Emergency Medical Services Authority (EMSA or EMS Authority) is an agency of

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

State government. The California EMS Authority is one of the thirteen departments within the

California Health and Human Services Agency The California Health and Human Services Agency (CHHS) is the state agency tasked with administration and oversight of "state and federal programs for health care, social services, public assistance and rehabilitation" in the U.S. state of Calif ...

. The director is required to be a physician with substantial experience in emergency medicine. Elizabeth Basnett is the current Acting Director. The mission of the California EMS Authority is to ensure quality patient care by administering an effective, statewide system of coordinated emergency medical care, injury prevention, and disaster medical response. In California, the EMS Authority is responsible for

paramedic A paramedic is a healthcare professional trained in the medical model, whose main role has historically been to respond to emergency calls for medical help outside of a hospital. Paramedics work as part of the emergency medical services (EMS), ...

licensure,

emergency medical technician An emergency medical technician (often, more simply, EMT) is a medical professional that provides emergency medical services. EMTs are most commonly found serving on ambulances and in fire departments in the US and Canada, as full-time and som ...

regulations,

trauma center A trauma center, or trauma centre, is a hospital equipped and staffed to provide care for patients suffering from major traumatic injuries such as falls, motor vehicle collisions, or gunshot wounds. The term "trauma center" may be used incorr ...

and trauma system standards,

ambulance An ambulance is a medically-equipped vehicle used to transport patients to treatment facilities, such as hospitals. Typically, out-of-hospital medical care is provided to the patient during the transport. Ambulances are used to respond to ...

service coordination, and disaster medical response. The EMS Authority operates the EM
Central Registry
a public access database that provides information about licensing and certification status of EMTs and paramedics. The EMS Authority manages the state's medical response to major disasters. This includes maintenance, staffing and deployment of three 200-bed mobile field hospitals, 39 Disaster Medical Support Units that supply ambulance strike teams, and three 40-person medical assistance teams that are prepared to respond to a disaster.
Disaster Healthcare Volunteers
is California's initiative to pre-register, verify licensure and credentials, and mobilize professional healthcare volunteers. The program has roughly 14,000 registrants representing 47 professional license types including doctors, dentists, nurses, paramedics, pharmacists, technicians, etc.

History and background

Paramedic A paramedic is a healthcare professional trained in the medical model, whose main role has historically been to respond to emergency calls for medical help outside of a hospital. Paramedics work as part of the emergency medical services (EMS), ...

programs were established as a county option in California in 1971 by the Wedworth-Townsend Pilot Paramedic Act (SB 772). Los Angeles County became the first county in California with paramedics. The popular television show

Emergency! ''Emergency!'' is an American Action fiction, action-adventure medical drama television series jointly produced by Mark VII Limited and Universal Television. Debuting on NBC as a midseason replacement on January 15, 1972, replacing two situatio ...

demonstrated the potential for improved pre-hospital care. Paramedic programs began to be established in many counties in California. Before 1980, the responsibility for

emergency medical services Emergency medical services (EMS), also known as ambulance services, pre-hospital care or paramedic services, are emergency services that provide urgent pre-hospital treatment and stabilisation for serious illness and injuries and transport to d ...

(EMS) and disaster medical preparedness was spread among a variety of state departments. It became clear that a more unified approach to emergency and disaster medical services was needed. The Emergency Medical Services System and Prehospital Emergency Medical Care Personnel Act (

California Health and Safety Code The California Health and Safety Code is the codification of general statutory law covering the subject areas of health and safety in the state of California. It is one of the 29 California Codes and was originally signed into law by the Governor ...

sections 1797 et seq.) created the Emergency Medical Services Authority in 1980. This legislation (SB 125) was the culmination of several years of effort by local administrators, health care providers, consumer groups, and legislators to establish a state lead agency and centralized resource to deal with emergency and disaster medical services. Previous Directors of the California Emergency Medical Services Authority were: Roger Taylor MD (1981-1982), George Moorhead (Acting, 1982–1983), Kenneth Kizer MD (1983-1984), George Moorhead (Acting, 1984–1986), Bruce Haynes MD (1986-1989), Daniel Smiley (Acting, 1989–1993), Joseph Morales MD (1993-1997), Richard Watson (Acting, 1997–2005), Cesar Aristeiguieta MD (2005-2007), Daniel Smiley (Acting 2007–2008), R. Steven Tharratt MD (2008-2010), Daniel Smiley (Acting 2010–2011), Howard Backer MD (2011-2019), Julie Souliere (Acting 2019), Dave Duncan MD (2019-2021), Elizabeth Basnett (2021–present. Daniel Smiley served as the Chief Deputy Director, and periodic acting Director, for 31 years from 1989 until 2019.

Role

The EMS Authority is charged with providing leadership in developing and implementing Emergency Medical Services (EMS) systems throughout California. In California, day-to-day EMS system management is a local responsibility. Each county developing an EMS system must designate a local EMS agency (LEMSA) which can be the county health department, an agency established and operated by the county, an entity with which the county contracts for the purposes of EMS administration or a joint powers agency. There are 34 single-county or multi-county local EMS agencies. It is principally through these agencies that the EMS Authority works to promote quality EMS services statewide.

References

External links

State of California EMS Authority

Prehospital Emergency Medical Services
in the

California Code of Regulations The California Code of Regulations (CCR, Cal. Code Regs.) is the codification of the general and permanent rules and regulations (sometimes called administrative law) announced in the '' California Regulatory Notice Register'' by California state ...

{{Authority control Emergency Medical Services Authority Government agencies established in 1981