A. The director shall:

1. 1. Appoint a medical director of the emergency medical services and trauma system.
2. 2. Adopt standards and criteria for the denial or granting of certification and recertification of emergency medical care technicians. These standards shall allow the department to certify qualified emergency medical care technicians who have completed statewide standardized training required under section 36-2204, paragraph 1 and a standardized certification test required under section 36-2204, paragraph 2, who hold valid certification with a national certification organization or who have completed training and testing by the United States armed forces at a level comparable to the national standards for emergency medical care technicians. Before the director may consider approving a statewide standardized training or a standardized certification test, or both, each of these must first be recommended by the medical direction commission and the emergency medical services council to ensure that the standardized training content is consistent with national education standards and that the standardized certification test examines comparable material to that examined in the tests of a national certification organization.
3. 3. Adopt standards and criteria that pertain to the quality of emergency care pursuant to section 36-2204.
4. 4. Adopt rules necessary to carry out this chapter. Each rule shall identify all sections and subsections of this chapter under which the rule was formulated.
5. 5. Adopt reasonable medical equipment, supply, staffing and safety standards, criteria and procedures to issue a certificate of registration to operate an ambulance.
6. 6. Maintain a state system for recertifying emergency medical care technicians, except as otherwise provided by section 36-2202.01, that is independent from any national certification organization recertification process. This system shall allow emergency medical care technicians to choose to be recertified under the state or the national certification organization recertification system subject to subsection H of this section.

B. Emergency medical technicians who choose the state recertification process shall recertify in one of the following ways:

1. 1. Successfully completing an emergency medical technician refresher course approved by the department.
2. 2. Successfully completing an emergency medical technician challenge course approved by the department.
3. 3. For emergency medical care technicians who are currently certified at the emergency medical technician level by the department, attesting on a form provided by the department that the applicant holds a valid and current cardiopulmonary resuscitation certification, has and will maintain documented proof of a minimum of twenty-four hours of continuing medical education within the last two years consistent with department rules and has functioned in the capacity of an emergency medical technician for at least two hundred forty hours during the last two years.

F. The director may suspend a protocol adopted pursuant to section 36-2205 if the director does all of the following:

1. 1. Determines that the rule is not in the public's best interest.
2. 2. Initiates procedures pursuant to title 41, chapter 6 to repeal the rule.
3. 3. Notifies all interested parties in writing of the director's action and the reasons for that action. Parties interested in receiving notification shall submit a written request to the director.

J. The standards, criteria and procedures adopted by the director pursuant to subsection A, paragraph 5 of this section shall require that ambulance services:

1. 1. Providing interfacility transportation in any certificate of necessity area of this state have one ambulance attendant as defined in section 36-2201, paragraph 6, subdivision (a), (c), (d) or (e) and one ambulance attendant as defined in section 36-2201, paragraph 6, subdivision (a), (b), (c), (d), or (e) staffing an ambulance while transporting a patient. If an ambulance attendant as defined in section 36-2201, paragraph 6, subdivision (b) is staffing the ambulance pursuant to this paragraph, that ambulance attendant may exclusively drive the ambulance.
2. 2. Serving a rural or wilderness certificate of necessity area with a population of less than ten thousand persons have at least one ambulance attendant as defined in section 36-2201, paragraph 6, subdivision (a), (c), (d) or (e) and one ambulance attendant as defined in section 36-2201, paragraph 6, subdivision (a) or (b) staffing an ambulance while transporting a patient.
3. 3. Serving a population of ten thousand persons or more have at least one ambulance attendant as defined in section 36-2201, paragraph 6, subdivision (a) and one ambulance attendant as defined in section 36-2201, paragraph 6, subdivision (a), (c), (d) or (e) staffing an ambulance while transporting a patient.

K. If the department determines there is not a qualified administrative medical director, the department shall ensure the provision of administrative medical direction for an emergency medical technician if the emergency medical technician meets all of the following criteria:

1. 1. Is employed by a nonprofit or governmental provider employing less than twelve full-time emergency medical technicians.
2. 2. Stipulates to the inability to secure a physician who is willing to provide administrative medical direction.
3. 3. Stipulates that the provider agency does not provide administrative medical direction for its employees.