SB 714 Summary

• Removes the "as funding permits" language, making the State Department of Health's establishment of a statewide coordinated stroke care system mandatory rather than contingent on available funding.

• Permits the State Commissioner of Health to include recommendations from the Oklahoma Hospital Advisory Council and other appropriate advisory councils at their discretion in the stroke care system.

• Requires the Division of Emergency Medical Services and all local and regional emergency medical services authorities statewide to establish and follow pre-hospital care protocols for assessment, treatment, and transport of stroke patients by certified emergency medical responders.

• Mandates that pre-hospital protocols include at minimum plans for triage and transport of acute stroke patients within a specified timeframe of symptom onset.

• Directs the State Board of Health to promulgate rules necessary to implement the provisions and becomes effective November 1, 2015.