HB 563 Summary

• Requires boards of health to promptly notify emergency medical services (EMS) workers and their employers when they have treated or transported a patient presumptively positive for a contagious or infectious disease (including COVID-19 and Class A diseases) within the previous 30 days.

• Requires hospitals to promptly provide verbal notification to EMS workers and their employers when a patient they treated has a presumptive positive case for a contagious or infectious disease.

• Allows EMS workers who receive notification to request test results for the patient using procedures in section 3701.248 of the Revised Code.

• Establishes civil liability for boards of health and hospitals that knowingly fail to provide timely notification; allows individuals injured by violations to recover compensatory damages and attorney's fees (limited to one-year statute of limitations).

• Makes violation of notification requirements a minor misdemeanor on first offense and fourth-degree misdemeanor on subsequent offenses; declares the act an emergency measure effective immediately due to the COVID-19 pandemic.