The California Emergency Medical Services Authority (EMSA or EMS Authority) is an agency of California State government. The California EMS Authority is one of the thirteen departments within the California Health and Human Services Agency. The director is required to be a physician with substantial experience in emergency medicine. Howard Backer, MD, MPH, FACEP is the current Director, and was appointed by Governor Jerry Brown on July 26, 2011. Daniel R. Smiley has been the chief deputy director since 1989.
The mission of the California EMS Authority is to ensure quality patient care by administering an effective, statewide system of coordinated emergency medical care, injury prevention, and disaster medical response.
In California, the EMS Authority is responsible for paramedic licensure, emergency medical technician regulations, trauma center and trauma system standards, ambulance service coordination, and disaster medical response.
The EMS Authority operates the EMS Central Registry, a public access database that provides information about licensing and certification status of EMTs and paramedics.
The EMS Authority manages the state's medical response to major disasters. This includes maintenance, staffing and deployment of three 200-bed mobile field hospitals, 39 Disaster Medical Support Units that supply ambulance strike teams, and three 40-person medical assistance teams that are prepared to respond to a disaster.
Disaster Healthcare Volunteers is California’s initiative to pre-register, verify licensure and credentials, and mobilize professional healthcare volunteers. The program has roughly 14,000 registrants representing 47 professional license types including doctors, nurses, paramedics, pharmacists, dentists, technicians, etc.
Read more about California Emergency Medical Services Authority: History and Background, Role
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