DAR File No. 37138

Labor Commission, Industrial Accidents

Rule R612-10

HIV, Hepatitis B and C Testing and Reporting for Emergency Medical Services Providers

Notice of Proposed Rule

(Repeal)

DAR File No.: 37138
Filed: 12/28/2012 02:39:57 PM

RULE ANALYSIS

Purpose of the rule or reason for the change:

The Labor Commission proposes to repeal this and other Industrial Accident Division rules in order to consolidate, reorganize, and reenact the substance of those rules in a format that is more logical and user friendly.

Summary of the rule or change:

The existing Rule R612-10 will be repealed in its entirety. The substance of the existing rule will be reenacted in new Rule R612-300. (DAR NOTE: The proposed new Rule R612-300 is under DAR No. 37126 in this issue, January 15, 2013, of the Bulletin.)

State statutory or constitutional authorization for this rule:

• Section 34A-2-101 et seq.
• Section 34A-3-101 et seq.
• Section 34A-1-104 et seq.
• Section 78B-8-402
• Section 78B-8-404

Anticipated cost or savings to:

the state budget:

Because the substantive provisions of the existing rule will be reenacted as a new rule, repeal of the existing rule will not result in costs or savings to the state budget.

local governments:

Because the substantive provisions of the existing rule will be reenacted as a new rule, repeal of the existing rule will not result in costs or savings to local government.

small businesses:

Because the substantive provisions of the existing rule will be reenacted as a new rule, repeal of the existing rule will not result in costs or savings to small businesses.

persons other than small businesses, businesses, or local governmental entities:

Because the substantive provisions of the existing rule will be reenacted as a new rule, repeal of the existing rule will not result in costs or savings to other affected persons.

Compliance costs for affected persons:

The repeal of existing Rule R612-10 and reenactment of its substantive provisions in Rule R612-300 will not change interested parties' rights or duties and will not impose any compliance costs on affected persons.

Comments by the department head on the fiscal impact the rule may have on businesses:

The repeal of existing Rule R612-10, coupled with reenactment of the rule's substantive provisions in the new Rule R612-300, is intended to make the rule easier to find and use by businesses and all other stakeholders in the workers' compensation system. The Commission does not anticipate that the improved organization of these rules will result in any fiscal impact on businesses.

Sherrie Hayashi, Commissioner

The full text of this rule may be inspected, during regular business hours, at the Division of Administrative Rules, or at:

Labor Commission
Industrial Accidents
HEBER M WELLS BLDG
160 E 300 S
SALT LAKE CITY, UT 84111-2316

Direct questions regarding this rule to:

• Ron Dressler at the above address, by phone at 801-530-6841, by FAX at 801-530-6804, or by Internet E-mail at rdressler@utah.gov

Interested persons may present their views on this rule by submitting written comments to the address above no later than 5:00 p.m. on:

02/14/2013

This rule may become effective on:

02/21/2013

Authorized by:

Sherrie Hayashi, Commissioner

R612. Labor Commission, Industrial Accidents.

[R612-10. HIV, Hepatitis B and C Testing and Reporting for Emergency Medical Services Providers.

R612-10-1. HIV, Hepatitis B and C Testing and Reporting for Emergency Medical Services Providers.

A. Authority - The HIV, Hepatitis B and C Testing and Reporting for Emergency Medical Services Providers rule is established under the authority of U.C.A. Section 78B-8-404.

B. Purpose - To establish procedures pursuant to U.C.A. Section 78B-8-401 for source patient testing and reporting following a significant exposure of an emergency medical services provider.

C. Definitions

1. Department means the Utah Labor Commission.

2. Contact means designated person(s) within the emergency medical services agency or the employer of the emergency medical services provider.

3. Disease means Human Immunodeficiency Virus, acute or chronic Hepatitis B or Hepatitis C infections.

4. Emergency medical services provider means Emergency Medical personnel as defined in Section 26-8a-102, a public safety officer, local fire department personnel, or personnel employed by the Department of Corrections or by a county jail, who provide prehospital Emergency medical care for an emergency medical services agency either as an employee or a volunteer.

5. Emergency medical services (EMS) agency means an agency, entity, or organization that employs or utilizes emergency medical services providers as defined in (4) as employees or volunteers.

6. Source Patient means any individual cared for by a prehospital emergency medical services provider, including but not limited to victims of accidents or injury, deceased persons, and prisoners or persons in the custody of the Department of Corrections.

7. Receiving facility means a hospital, health care or other facility where the patient is delivered by the emergency medical services provider for care.

8. "Significant Exposure" and "Significantly Exposed" mean:

a. exposure of the body of one person to the blood or body fluids visibly contaminated by blood of another person by:

1. percutaneous injury, including a needle stick or cut with a sharp object or instrument; or

2. contact with an open wound, mucous membrane, or nonintact skin because of a cut, abrasion, dermatitis, or other damage; or

b. exposure that occurs by any other method of transmission defined by the Department of Health as a significant exposure.

D. Emergency Medical Services Provider Responsibility.

1. The EMS provider shall document and report all significant exposures to the receiving facility and contact as defined in (C) (2).

2. The reporting process is as follows:

a. The exposed EMS provider shall complete the Exposure Report Form (ERF) at the time the patient is delivered to the receiving facility and provide a copy to the person at the receiving facility authorized by the facility to receive the form. In the event the exposed EMS provider does not accompany the source patient to the receiving facility, he/she may report the exposure incident, with information requested on the ERF, by telephone to a person authorized by the facility to receive the form. In this event, the exposed EMS provider shall nevertheless submit a written copy of the ERF within three days to an authorized person of the receiving facility.

b. The exposed EMS provider shall, within three days of the incident, submit a copy of the ERF to the contact as defined in (C) (2).

E. Receiving Facility Responsibility:

1. The receiving facility shall establish a system to receive ERFs as well as telephoned reports from exposed EMS providers on a 24-hour per day basis. The facility shall also have available or on call, trained pre-test counselors for the purpose of obtaining consent and counseling of source patients when HIV testing has been requested by EMS providers. The receiving facility shall contact the source patient prior to release from the facility to provide the individual with counseling or, if unable to provide counseling, provide the source patient with phone numbers for a trained counselor to provide the counseling within 24 hours.

2. Upon notification of exposure, the receiving facility shall request permission from the source patient to draw a blood sample for disease testing, as defined in (C) (3). In conjunction with this request, the source patient must be advised of his/her right to refuse testing and be advised that if he/she refuses to be tested that fact will be forwarded to the EMS agency or employer of EMS provider. The source patient shall also be advised that if he/she refuses to be tested, the EMS agency or provider may seek a court order to compel the source patient to submit to a blood draw for the disease testing.

Testing is authorized only when the source patient, his/her next of kin or legal guardian consents to testing, with the exception that consent is not required from an individual who has been convicted of a crime and is in the custody or under the jurisdiction of the Department of Corrections, or if the source patient is dead. If consent is denied, the receiving facility shall complete the ERF and send it to the EMS agency or employer of the EMS provider. If consent is received, the receiving facility shall draw a sample of the source patient's blood and send it, along with the ERF, to a qualified laboratory for testing.

3. The laboratory that the receiving facility has sent source patient's blood draw to shall send the disease test results, by Case ID number, to the EMS agency or employer of the EMS provider.

F. EMS Agency/Employer Responsibility:

1. The EMS agency/employer, upon receipt of the disease tests, from the receiving facility laboratory, shall immediately report the result, by case number, not name, to the exposed EMS provider.

2. The EMS agency/employer, upon the receipt of refusal of testing by the source, shall report that refusal to the EMS provider.

3. The agency/employer or its insurance carrier shall pay for the EMS provider and the source patient testing for the covered diseases per the Labor Commission fee schedule.

4. The EMS agency/employer shall maintain the records of any disease exposures contained in this rule per the OSHA Blood Borne Pathogen standards.

 

KEY: workers' compensation, administrative procedures, reporting, settlements

Date of Enactment or Last Substantive Amendment: December 2, 2005

Notice of Continuation: November 4, 2010

Authorizing, and Implemented or Interpreted Law: 34A-2-101 et seq.; 34A-3-101 et seq.; 34A-1-104; 78B-8-402; 78B-8-404]