An Act to authorize transportation activities by air ambulance services operators.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of South Dakota:

Section 1. That a NEW SECTION be added to chapter 34-11:

An air ambulance service operator may use a ground ambulance to transport a patient between:

(1) An acute care hospital and the airport at which the service maintains its ordinary and usual place of business; and

(2) The airport at which the air ambulance service operator maintains its ordinary and usual place of business and an acute care hospital.

Section 2. That a NEW SECTION be added to chapter 34-11:

An air ambulance service operator may utilize the service's operator's ground ambulance for a the non-emergent transfer of a patient from one healthcare facility to another healthcare facility if:

(1) The patient's attending medical practitioner determines that the patient requires a level of care that is not available without a transfer;

(2) The use of an air ambulance is precluded due to:

(a) Mechanical issues; or

(b) Weather issues; and

(3) The area's primary ambulance service provider is first given the opportunity to transport the patient and is unable to begin the transport:

(a) Within thirty minutes; or

(b) Within the period of time approved by the patient's attending medical practitioner the patient's attending healthcare practitioner determines that the patient requires a level of care that is not available or is not appropriate at the transferring facility, and:

(1) The operator is unable to use the operator's air ambulance to transport the patient due to mechanical problems or inclement weather conditions;

(2) The operator offered the area's designated ground ambulance operator the opportunity to transport the patient and the ground ambulance operator declined the offer; or

(3) The operator offered the area's designated ground ambulance operator the opportunity to transport the patient and the ground ambulance operator is unable to begin transporting the patient within the greater of:

(a) Sixty minutes; or

(b) The period prescribed by the patient's attending healthcare practitioner.