At its December meeting, the Commission on Emergency Medical Services reviewed ongoing implementation challenges related to Assembly Bill (AB) 40’s ambulance patient offload time (APOT) requirements, under which hospitals must submit APOT reduction protocols annually.
Earlier this year, the Emergency Medical Services Authority developed, per Assembly Bill 40 (2023), an “APOT Audit Tool” that aims to improve emergency medical services data and shorten ambulance patient offload times (APOTs).
All hospitals must submit an ambulance patient offload time (APOT) reduction protocol — required under Assembly Bill 40 (2023) — to the Emergency Medical Services Authority annually on or before June 30. The California Hospital Association recommends that hospitals submit their protocols as soon as possible.