The following words and terms, when used in these sections, shall have the following meanings, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.
  (1) Call for assistance--An event where an Emergency Medical Services (EMS) provider is activated via an internal communication system or by a 9-1-1 operator.
  (2) Case--A person in whom an injury is identified by a physician or medical examiner based upon clinical evaluation, interpretation of laboratory and/or radiological findings, and an appropriate exposure history.
  (3) Commissioner--Commissioner of the Department of State Health Services.
  (4) Data dictionaries--A collection of descriptions of the data elements in the Texas EMS & Trauma Registries database.
  (5) Department--The Department of State Health Services, 1100 West 49th Street, Austin, Texas 78756-3180.
  (6) Electronic reporting--Submitting data by computer in a format prescribed by the department.
  (7) Emergency Medical Services (EMS) provider--A person or entity that uses, operates or maintains EMS vehicles and EMS personnel to provide EMS; as defined by Health and Safety Code, §773.003(11) and Chapter 157, Subchapter A, §157.2 of this title (relating to Definitions).
  (8) Health authority--A physician appointed as such under Texas Health and Safety Code, Chapter 121.
  (9) Injury--Damage to the body resulting from intentional or unintentional acute exposure to thermal, mechanical, electrical, or chemical energy, or from the absence of essentials such as heat or oxygen.
  (10) Investigation--Fieldwork designed to obtain more information about an incident.
  (11) Local health department--A department created under the Texas Health and Safety Code, Chapter 121.
  (12) No reportable data (NRD)--If the entity does not have any reportable event for a given month, the entity shall inform the Texas EMS & Trauma Registries monthly by providing the NRD submission.
  (13) Regional Registry--A system that collects, maintains and reports EMS provider runs and trauma data to the department for a designated area of the state.
  (14) Registries --The Texas EMS & Trauma Registries is the statewide database housed within the department; responsible for the collection, maintenance, and evaluation of medical and system information related to required reportable events as defined in this section.
  (15) Reporting entity--An EMS provider, a justice of the peace, a medical examiner, a physician, or an entity reporting on behalf of the physician including a hospital or an acute or post-acute rehabilitation facility.
  (16) Reportable event--Any injury or incident required to be reported under this chapter.
    (A) EMS run--A resulting action from a call for assistance where an EMS provider is dispatched to, responds to, provides care to or transports a person.
    (B) Traumatic brain injury (TBI)--An acquired injury to the brain, including brain injuries caused by anoxia due to submersion incidents.
    (C) Spinal cord injury (SCI)--An acute, traumatic lesion of the neural elements in the spinal canal, resulting in any degree of sensory deficit, motor deficits, or bladder/bowel dysfunction.
    (D) Submersion injury--The fatal or non-fatal process of experiencing respiratory impairment from submersion/immersion in liquid.
    (E) Significant trauma injuries--Other severely injured trauma patients whose injury meets the department’s inclusion criteria based on the data dictionaries and admitted to a hospital inpatient setting for more than 48 hours, or died after receiving any evaluation or treatment, or was dead on arrival, or transferred into or out of a hospital.
  (17) Suspected case--A case in which an injury is assumed, but a diagnosis is not yet made, as in the example of justices of the peace.
  (18) Third-party services--Includes, but is not limited to a regional registry located in a trauma service area (TSA), a billing agency, or a data reporting agency.
  (19) Trauma--An injury or wound to a living body caused by the application of an external force, including but not limited to violence, burns, poisonings, submersion incidents, traumatic brain injuries, traumatic spinal cord injuries, and suffocations.
  (20) Trauma service area (TSA)--A multi-county area in which an emergency medical services and trauma care system has been developed by a Regional Advisory Council and has been recognized by the department.

Source Note: The provisions of this §103.2 adopted to be effective December 16, 2007, 32 TexReg 9130; amended to be effective April 2, 2017, 42 TexReg 1457