CARSON CITY -- Nevada lawmakers were told Wednesday that some Las Vegas hospitals haven't met terms of a 2005 law requiring them to track emergency room admissions to ensure patients get care within half an hour after arriving by ambulance.
The law imposes no penalties or liability for not meeting the time deadline, but waits were supposed to be tracked and included in a study showing where emergency care is slow.
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The Assembly Committee on Health and Human Services was told regulations required by the law, Senate Bill 428, were never crafted, the study report is not ready, and the numbers in the report probably won't be accurate.
Nurses often forget to log when a patient is transferred from the ambulance service into the hospital's care, said Rory Chetelat, manager of emergency medical services for the Southern Nevada Health District.
Committee Chairwoman Sheila Leslie, D-Reno, asked for an explanation within a week about why regulations were not crafted to comply with the law.
