This subpart contains rules that apply only to the Wireless Medical Telemetry Service (WMTS) operating in the 608-614 MHz, 1395-1400 MHz and 1427-1432 MHz frequency bands.

Authorized health care provider. A physician or other individual authorized under state or Federal law to provide health care services, or any other health care facility operated by or employing individuals authorized under state or Federal law to provide health care services, or any trained technician operating under the supervision and control of an individual or health care facility authorized under state or Federal law to provide health care services.

Health care facility. A health care facility includes hospitals and other establishments that offer services, facilities and beds for use beyond a 24-hour period in rendering medical treatment, and institutions and organizations regularly engaged in providing medical services through clinics, public health facilities, and similar establishments, including government entities and agencies such as Veterans Administration hospitals; except the term health care facility does not include an ambulance or other moving vehicle.

Wireless Medical Telemetry Service (WMTS). A short-distance data communication service for the transmission of physiological parameters and other patient medical information via radiated electromagnetic signals.

Wireless medical telemetry. The measurement and recording of physiological parameters and other patient-related information via radiated bi-or unidirectional electromagnetic signals in the 608-614 MHz, 1395-1400 MHz and 1427-1432 MHz frequency bands.

Only the following persons are eligible to operate transmitters in the Wireless Medical Telemetry Service:

(a) Authorized health care providers are eligible to operate transmitters in the WMTS without an individual license issued by the FCC provided the coordination requirements in § 95.2309 have been met.

(b) Manufacturers of wireless medical telemetry devices and their representatives are eligible to operate WMTS transmitters solely for the purpose of demonstrating such equipment to, or installing and maintaining such equipment for, authorized health care providers.

Operation of WMTS devices is subject to the frequency coordination procedures in this section.

(a) Frequency coordinators. The FCC designates one or more frequency coordinators to manage WMTS use of the frequency bands designated for the operation of WMTS devices.

(1) Contact information for the frequency coordinator can be obtained from the FCC's Web site at: https://www.fcc.gov/encyclopedia/wireless-medical-telemetry-service-wmts or by calling the FCC at 1-888-CALL-FCC (1-888-225-5322).

(2) The duties of the frequency coordinators are to:

(i) Review and process coordination requests submitted by authorized health care providers as required by this section;

(ii) Maintain a database of WMTS use;

(iii) Notify users of potential conflicts;

(iv) Coordinate WMTS operation with radio astronomy observatories and Federal Government radar systems as specified in paragraphs (f) and (g).

(v) Notify licensees operating pursuant to § 90.259(b) of this chapter of the need to comply with the field strength limit of § 90.259(b)(11) prior to initial activation of WMTS equipment in the 1427-1432 MHz band.

(vi) Notify licensees operating in the 1392-1395 MHz band (pursuant to subpart I of part 27 of this chapter) of the need to comply with the field strength limit of § 27.804 prior to initial activation of WMTS equipment in the 1395-1400 MHz band.

(b) Initial registration. Prior to first use of a WMTS device for wireless medical telemetry in a health care facility, the authorized health care provider shall register the device with a designated frequency coordinator. After April 14, 2010, no registrations may be accepted for frequencies where WMTS does not have primary status. Previously registered secondary facilities may continue to operate as registered.

(c) Maintaining current information. The authorized health care provider shall maintain the information contained in each registration current in all material respects, and shall notify the frequency coordinator when any material change is made in the location or operating parameters previously reported.

(d) Discontinuation. The authorized health care provider shall notify the frequency coordinator whenever a medical telemetry device is permanently taken out of service, unless the device is replaced with another transmitter utilizing the same technical characteristics as those reported on the effective registration.

(e) Registration information. Each registration includes the following information:

(1) The specific frequency range(s);

(2) The modulation scheme and/or emission type (including bandwidth);

(3) The effective radiated power;

(4) The number of WMTS devices in use at the health care facility as of the date of registration, including manufacturer name(s) and model numbers;

(5) The legal name of the authorized health care provider;

(6) The location of the WMTS device (e.g., coordinates, street address, building, as appropriate); and,

(7) Contact information for the authorized health care provider (e.g., name, title, office address, telephone number, fax number, email address).

(f) Specific requirements for WMTS devices in the 608-614 MHz frequency band. For a wireless medical telemetry device operating within the frequency range 608-614 MHz that will be located near the radio astronomy observatories listed below, operation is not permitted until a WMTS frequency coordinator referenced in § 95.2309 has coordinated with, and obtained the written concurrence of, the director of the affected radio astronomy observatory before the equipment can be installed or operated—

(1) Within 80 kilometers of:

(i) National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center, Arecibo, Puerto Rico: 18°-20′-38.28′ North Latitude, 66°-45′-09.42′ West Longitude;

(ii) National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Socorro, New Mexico: 34°-04′-43′ North Latitude, 107°-37′-04′ West Longitude; or

(iii) National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Green Bank, West Virginia: 38°-26′-08′ North Latitude, 79°-49′-42′ West Longitude.

(2) Within 32 kilometers of any of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) facilities (Very Long Baseline Array Stations) centered on the following geographical coordinates:

(3) The National Science Foundation (NSF) point of contact for coordination is: Division of Astronomical Sciences, Electromagnetic Spectrum Management Unit, 2415 Eisenhower Avenue, Alexandria, VA 22314; Email: [email protected].

(g) Specific requirements for WMTS devices in the 1395-1400 and 1427-1432 MHz bands. Due to the critical nature of communications transmitted under this part, the frequency coordinator in consultation with the National Telecommunications and Information Administration will determine whether there are any Federal Government systems whose operations could affect, or could be affected by, proposed WMTS operations in the 1395-1400 MHz and 1427-1432 MHz bands. The locations of government systems in these bands are specified in footnotes US351 and US352 of § 2.106 of this chapter.

(h) Obtaining interference protection. To receive interference protection, parties operating WMTS networks in the 608-614 MHz frequency band shall notify one of the white space database administrators of their operating location pursuant to §§ 15.713(j)(11) and 15.715(p) of this chapter.

Authorized health care providers, in conjunction with the equipment manufacturers, must cooperate in the selection and use of frequencies in order to reduce the potential for interference with other wireless medical telemetry devices, or other co-primary users. However, WMTS operations in the 608-614 MHz band are not entitled to protection from adjacent band interference from broadcast television stations transmitting on TV Channels 36 and 38.

WMTS transmitters are used to transmit wireless medical telemetry, on a unidirectional or bidirectional basis. All transmissions must be related to the provision of medical care.

Operators of WMTS transmitters must not use them for any purpose not set forth in § 95.2331 or in a manner prohibited in this section.

(a) WMTS transmitters must not be operated in moving vehicles, such as ambulances, even if the vehicles are associated with a health care facility.

(b) The operation of a wireless medical telemetry transmitter under this part is authorized anywhere within a health care facility provided the facility is located anywhere Personal Radio Service station operation is permitted under §§ 95.307 and 95.309. Operation in any other area outside of such health care facilities is prohibited.

(c) WMTS transmitters must not be used to transmit voice or video communications. Medical waveforms, such as electrocardiograms, are not considered to be video for the purpose of this section.

Notwithstanding the provisions of § 95.347, WMTS operations may be conducted under manual or automatic control.

WMTS operations may be conducted on a continuous basis, notwithstanding the provisions of § 95.357.

(a) WMTS transmitters (transmitters that operate or are intended to operate in the WTMS) must be certified in accordance with this subpart and the provisions of part 2, subpart J of this chapter.

(b) A grant of equipment certification for the WMTS will not be issued for any WMTS transmitter type that fails to comply with the applicable rules in this subpart.

The channels listed in this section are allotted for shared use in the WMTS and channels will not be assigned for exclusive use of any entity.

(a) WMTS transmitter types must operate in one or more of these frequency bands:

(1) 608-614 MHz (co-primary);

(2) 1395-1400 MHz (co-primary); or,

(3) 1427-1429.5 MHz (co-primary) and 1429.5-1432 MHz (secondary), except at the locations listed in § 90.259(b)(4) of this chapter where WMTS transmitters may operate in the 1429-1431.5 MHz frequency band on a primary basis and in the 1427-1429 MHz and 1431.5-1432 MHz bands on a secondary basis. See note US350 to the Table of Frequency Allocations in § 2.106 of this chapter for additional details.

(b) WMTS transmitter types utilizing broadband technologies (such as spread spectrum modulation) in the 608-614 MHz frequency band must be capable of using one or more of the following 1.5 MHz bandwidth channels (a maximum of 6 MHz bandwidth). Such transmitter types must be designed to use the minimum number of channels necessary to avoid harmful interference to other WMTS devices.

(c) In the 1395-1400 MHz and 1427-1432 MHz bands, no specific channels are specified. Wireless medical telemetry devices may operate on any channel within the bands authorized for wireless medical telemetry use in this part.

Manufacturers of wireless medical telemetry devices are responsible for ensuring frequency accuracy such that all emissions are maintained within the designated bands of operation under all of the manufacturer's specified conditions.

Each WMTS transmitter type must satisfy the field strength limits in this section.

(a) For WMTS transmitter types operating in the 608-614 MHz band, the field strength of the transmitted signal must not exceed 200 mV/m, measured at a distance of 3 meters, using instrumentation with a CISPR quasi-peak detector.

(b) For WMTS transmitter types operating in the 1395-1400 MHz and 1427-1432 MHz bands, the field strength of the transmitted signal must not exceed 740 mV/m, measured at 3 meters, using instrumentation with an averaging detector and a 1 MHz reference bandwidth.

Each WMTS transmitter type must be designed to comply with the requirements in this paragraph.

(a) Unwanted emissions on frequencies below 960 MHz must not exceed 200 μ V/m, measured at a distance of 3 meters using measuring instrumentation with a CISPR quasi-peak detector.

(b) Unwanted emissions on frequencies above 960 MHz must not exceed 500 μ V/m, measured at a distance of 3 meters using measuring equipment with an averaging detector and a 1 MHz measurement bandwidth.

Mobile and portable devices as defined in §§ 2.1091(b) and 2.1093(b) of this chapter operating in the WMTS are subject to radio frequency radiation exposure requirements as specified in §§ 1.1307(b), 2.1091, and 2.1093 of this chapter, as appropriate. Applications for equipment authorization of WMTS devices must contain a statement confirming compliance with these requirements. Technical information showing the basis for this statement must be submitted to the Commission upon request.

Each WMTS device must be labeled with the following statement: “Operation of this equipment requires the prior coordination with a frequency coordinator designated by the FCC for the Wireless Medical Telemetry Service.”

Manufacturers, installers and users of WMTS equipment are cautioned that the operation of this equipment could result in harmful interference to other nearby medical devices.