Public Utility Model (PUM), is an emergency medical service (EMS) system. In a Public Utility Model system, the government is a "purchaser" of dispatchers, emergency medical technicians (EMTs) and paramedic providers from an EMS provider (contractor). In most cases, this is a private (for-profit) ambulance company. In the ownership of a Public Utility Model, the community retains control of EMS system capital assets and accounts receivable through daily oversight. The EMS provider (contractor) manages the day-to-day operations of the service and provides the system with properly trained providers.
The system is designed whereas the government not only regulates and oversees system performance, but the ambulance service contractor is held accountable to meet or exceed performance requirements. These requirements include, but not limited to, time constraints. Such limits are set to ensure an ambulance arrives to life-threatening emergencies without delay. The contractors failure in fulfilling the contractual obligations can result in fines being imposed, up to and including termination of contract. The agreement and contract between government and contractor are done through a competitive bidding process. This insures that the most cost-effective provision of EMS services is guaranteed.
The German and Austrian utility model is called the "Gebrauchsmuster", which influenced some other countries such as Japan. In Indonesia the utility model is called a "Petty Patent".
A utility model is a statutory monopoly granted for a limited time in exchange for an inventor providing sufficient teaching of his or her invention to permit a person of ordinary skill in the relevant art to perform the invention. The rights conferred by utility model laws are very similar to those granted by patent laws, but are more suited to what may be considered as "incremental inventions". Terms such as "petty patent", "innovation patent", "minor patent", and "small patent" may also be considered to fall within the definition of "utility model".
A public utility (usually just utility) is an organization that maintains the infrastructure for a public service (often also providing a service using that infrastructure). Public utilities are subject to forms of public control and regulation ranging from local community-based groups to statewide government monopolies.