HEAR systems.......

were established back in the early 1970's to provide better medical treatment for those injured in primarily rural areas and as a means of improving patient transport efficiency in larger metropolitan areas.  The requirements for certification for both hospitals and patient transport services depents upon compliance with applicable State requirements.  An excerpt of the applicable HEAR system requirement for transport vehicles is available at www.info4u.us/code.pdf.

As you will note, patient transport vehicles must have the ability to communicate with it's assigned medical direction hospital.  The problem is that many hospitals in Alabama and elsewhere are not meeting certification requirements by maintaining a valid FCC license and operational HEAR system equipment.  This not only violates the applicable hospital's certification requirement, but also renders the patient transport vehicle operator out of compliance since they cannot talk to the local hospital due to no fault of their own.

We felt that it would be appropriate to review the HEAR system with a view toward becoming compliant and restoring the system ot it's original intent of saving lives and simultaneously addressing the need for patient privacy (HIPAA) and SAFECOM interoperability using P25 digital wireless technology.  Additional information on the HEAR system is available at www.info4u.us/HEAR_Plus.pdf.