Tennessee House Bill HB2195

Tennessee 2025-2026 Regular Session

• Introduced: 2/2/26
• Refer: 2/5/26
• Refer: 3/4/26

Caption

AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 68, Chapter 140, relative to emergency medical services.

Summary

HB2195 amends Tennessee’s emergency medical services laws to require air medical communications specialists to obtain certification within six months of employment. The certification must come from either a flight program accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Medical Transport Systems (CAMTS) or a flight program through the International Association of Medical Transport Communication Specialists. The bill is narrowly focused on establishing a professional qualification standard for personnel who coordinate air medical transport communications. It does not create a new licensing regime for all EMS workers, but it does set a time-limited certification requirement for a specific role within the air medical transport system. The act would take effect immediately upon becoming law.

Impact

The bill would add a new section to Tennessee Code Annotated Title 68, Chapter 140, Part 3, thereby creating a statutory certification requirement for air medical communications specialists. Employers and flight programs in the air medical transport field would need to ensure newly hired communications specialists complete an approved certification within six months. The measure affects emergency medical services providers, air ambulance operations, and the training/certification organizations named in the bill.

Sentiment

The available voting history suggests generally favorable support for the bill, with the House Health Subcommittee voting 7-0 to recommend passage as amended and refer it to the Health Committee. No committee transcript is available, but the unanimous subcommittee vote indicates little visible opposition at that stage. Overall, the bill appears to have been treated as a technical professional standards measure rather than a controversial policy change.

Contention

The main point of potential contention is the certification mandate itself: whether requiring certification within six months is the appropriate standard, and whether limiting acceptable credentials to CAMTS-accredited programs or the International Association of Medical Transport Communication Specialists is too restrictive or sufficiently protective of patient safety. Any concerns would likely come from employers, training providers, or stakeholders worried about implementation burdens, though the recorded vote shows no opposition in subcommittee.