By james art 
- As the Utah creates more free of farm offices, many do not have the necessary staff or equipment to provide proper care, Bill Sponsor says.
- HB152 defines specific requirements for what these facilities should have, such as respiratory therapists and laboratory technicians.
- In addition, the emergency departments should be more transparent about emergency costs.
A bill that would set stable requirements for free -standing emergency departments across the Wasatch front, advanced through the House Health and Human Services Committee on Tuesday.
Sponsored by a reporter Katy Hall, R-South Ogden, HB152 determines the requirements for the amount of staff and lists certain equipment that must have independent emergency departments throughout the country.
“These are the standards we came up with in the bill and we think and hope this will increase the increase in public safety, that these are great places to go,” Hall said. “If you have an emergency, you can feel confident where you are going, we work.”
These free standing or satellite, emergency departments are healthcare facilities that provide emergency or critical care away from the main hospital campus, which are being operated under the license of the parent hospital.
Hall said that since more than these facilities were created in Utah, many do not have the necessary staff or equipment to provide appropriate emergency assistance.
“I feel that Utah has a chance to decide what we want our emergency help and have an obligation to public and consumer confidence,” Hall said.
What requirements determine the account?
This bill defines specific requirements for free -standing emergency departments in the first and second class counts around Utah.
This requires these facilities to have at least two registered nurses, a respiratory therapist and a laboratory technician. Specific equipment for the provision of services such as CT scanning, X -rays and sonogram is also required.
The number of satellite emergency wards in Utah is increasing and the bills determine the limitations of how much a hospital can have.
If the bill passes, all facilities that do not meet these requirements will not be able to identify themselves as providing emergency or critical care services.
This bill will also do so, so the emergency departments are more transparent and identifiable, including signs that say that patients will have to pay prices to emergency wards.
This is designed to help those who do not have to need an emergency department, especially because of the cost of emergency care. If patients are experiencing something that is not really an emergency, then they can go to Instacare for a lower price, Hall said.
“Medical care is so expensive that a person without insurance can go bankrupt from one visit, and when necessary, it is necessary, but the person must know what he chooses,” said reporter Raymond Ward, R-Bount.
Why are these requirements needed?
Hall started working on this bill last year after a doctor addressed one of these free -standing emergency wards. This composition shared with it some of the problems seen in these departments, including they are not located and do not have all the necessary equipment for emergency providers to do their job properly.
“His position was that this did not allow us to do our job in the best way of our abilities as emergency doctors,” Hall said.
During the hearing of the committee, Rae Shelley Larsen, a nurse in one of these facilities, shared her personal experience and why he thinks these changes are necessary.
“I am concerned about safety with our staff and provides our patients with the best care, this is a problem for safety,” Larsen said.
She shared that without the necessary staff, she eventually does the work of laboratory technology and respiratory therapist, both of which she is not fully trained or qualified to do at the top of a nurse.
“We love the work we do in our community, and we understand and our community loves us. They come to us and they trust us and I fear that they trust us, they will not be able to maintain this confidence in our community that we have established, “Larsen said.
Initially, this bill was introduced in 2024.
Hall started working on this bill for the first time more than a year ago. It was introduced in last year’s legislative session and after passing through the House if it was stopped in the Senate. She said she was working hard through the intermediate to make the necessary changes to please all stakeholders and to receive this bill.
“It’s hard when you have something you are passionate about and you know it’s about the public good that doesn’t go,” Hall said. “But at the same time, it just makes me want to try even more cheerful to do something and come up with the right policy.”
Hall shared that he was working hard during the year by meeting with doctors, nurses and hospital administrators, as well as visiting facilities from the four hospital systems to prepare the bill for this legislative session.
She pointed out that she had to make a few compromises and discounts in order to bring all stakeholders on board with the bill. One of these necessary changes was that if the facility could not receive a respiratory therapist, this position could be filled by someone else with respiratory training, such as EMT.
“There are many things that it is required in this area that just make sense, and those that we have not been able to find compromises, and I think we have received everything we need,” said Francis Gibson with a Utah Hospital Association.