Title 22 — Title 22

The State Board of Health shall designate the diseases and health conditions which are notifiable. The diseases and health conditions so designated by the Board of Health are declared to be diseases and health conditions of epidemic potential, a threat to the health and welfare o…

Compulsory Treatment and Quarantine; Cost of Treatment; Exercise of Religious Freedom. Whenever the State Board of Health or its authorized representative shall discover, as a result of its own investigation or as a result of any report required by this article, that any person m…

The State Board of Health, at its option, may authorize regional contract tuberculosis hospitals to admit indigent patients afflicted with chronic lung diseases other than tuberculosis. Costs for the care and treatment of indigent patients afflicted with chronic lung diseases oth…

This article shall be cited and known as the “Mike Denton Infection Reporting Act.” History: (Act 2009-490, p. 900, §1.)

For purposes of this article, the following terms shall have the following meanings: (1) DEPARTMENT. The Alabama Department of Public Health. (2) BOARD. The State Board of Health. (3) COUNCIL. The Health Care Data Advisory Council. (4) DATA. Patient information submitted by healt…

(a) The board, upon consultation with and approval of the council, shall establish and maintain a system for the protection, collection, and dissemination of health care facility acquired infection data. (b) The health care facility acquired infection data collection, and dissemi…

By August 1, 2010, the board, after consultation with and the approval of the council, shall promulgate all rules and regulations pursuant to the Administrative Procedure Act necessary to implement the provisions of this article. History: (Act 2009-490, p. 900, §4.)

(a) All general, critical access, and specialized hospitals licensed pursuant to Section 22-21-20, shall report data on health care facility acquired infections for the specific clinical procedures as recommended by the council and defined by the department, in the following cate…

Within one year of the certification by the department, health care facilities shall make the first report due under this article. The board shall specify by rule the types of information on patients with health care facility acquired infections which shall be submitted and the m…

Individual patient information submitted to the department under the provisions of this article shall not be public information. Reports and studies prepared and released by the department based upon such data shall be public information. Reports and studies prepared by the depar…

The department may undertake a reasonable number of studies and publish information in collaboration with licensed health care providers based upon the data obtained pursuant to the provisions of this article. One of the purposes for such studies will be to provide specific compa…

(a) There is established the Health Care Data Advisory Council to assist in developing regulations and standards necessary to implement the provisions of this article, to review and serve as consultants to the board on matters related to any reports or publications prior to a rep…

The board shall promulgate rules and regulations developed pursuant to the Administrative Procedure Act for certain civil monetary penalties for health care facilities which substantially fail to comply with the provisions of this article. History: (Act 2009-490, p. 900, §10.)

(a) It shall be the duty of the State Board of Health to assure the statewide operation of outpatient clinics necessary for the treatment and control of tuberculosis. These clinics shall make available anti-tuberculosis drugs, other tuberculosis services, and conduct a continuing…

The board shall promulgate rules and regulations pursuant to the Administrative Procedure Act providing for the dissemination and costs of reports and publications to any party deemed appropriate by the department. History: (Act 2009-490, p. 900, §11.)

(a) The department shall utilize the data and information received for the benefit of the public. (b) Individual patient data submitted to the department by health care facilities pursuant to this article shall at all times remain confidential and privileged from discovery. This …

The department may bring civil actions in any court of competent jurisdiction, collect civil monetary penalties, and enforce compliance with this article or any requirement or appropriate request of the department made pursuant to this article. History: (Act 2009-490, p. 900, §13…

This article shall no longer have any force or effect and shall not be enforceable after the department determines that there has been an enactment of a United States government program for collecting and disseminating health care facility acquired infection data which mandates, …

This article shall be construed or interpreted as being in addition to other laws on the subjects covered by this article. History: (Act 2009-490, p. 900, §15.)

Sexually transmitted diseases which are designated by the State Board of Health are recognized and declared to be contagious, infectious and communicable diseases and dangerous to public health. The State Board of Health is authorized and directed to promulgate rules for the test…

Measures for Protection of Others. (a) Any physician who diagnoses or treats a case of sexually transmitted disease as designated by the State Board of Health, or any administrator of any hospital, dispensary, correctional facility or other institution in which a case of sexually…

(a) Every physician or other person permitted by law to attend a pregnant woman during gestation shall, in the case of each woman so attended, take or cause to be taken any serologic or other biologic sample of the woman as provided by the State Board of Health. Any sample shall …

Victim May Request Results of Hiv Testing. (a) All persons sentenced to confinement or imprisonment in any city or county jail or any state correctional facility for 30 or more consecutive days shall be tested for those sexually transmitted diseases designated by the State Board …

Compulsory Treatment and Quarantine. (a) Any person where there is reasonable cause to believe has a sexually transmitted disease or has been exposed to a sexually transmitted disease shall be tested and examined by the county or State Health Officer or his designee or a licensed…

Inform Parent or Guardian. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a minor 12 years of age or older who may have come into contact with any sexually transmitted disease as designated by the State Board of Health may give consent to the furnishing of medical care related to th…

from Liability. Each physician, dentist, nurse, medical examiner, hospital administrator, nursing home administrator, laboratory director, school principal, and day care center director shall be responsible to report cases or suspected cases of notifiable diseases and health cond…

Every physician who examines or treats a person having a sexually transmitted disease shall instruct such person in measures for preventing the spread of such disease and the necessity of treatment until cured. History: (Acts 1987, No. 87-574, p. 904, §20.)

Disease to Transmit Such Disease to Another Person. (a) Any person who shall treat or prescribe for any person having a sexually transmitted disease except a physician licensed to practice medicine in Alabama by the Medical Licensure Commission shall be guilty of a Class C misdem…

All information, reports and medical records concerning persons infected with sexually transmitted diseases designated by the State Board of Health shall be confidential and shall not be subject to public inspection or admission into evidence in any court except commitment procee…

Any person who the state or county health officer has reason to believe has been exposed to any of the diseases designated under this article shall be tested. Any person who the state or county health officer has reason to believe is afflicted with any of the diseases designated …

Treatment. When any person exposed to a disease or where reasonable evidence indicates exposure to a disease or infection designated under this article refuses testing or when any person afflicted with a disease designated under this article refuses treatment and/or conducts hims…

The petition shall be executed under oath and shall contain the name and address of the petitioner, the name and location of the person sought to be committed, the disease to which the person has been exposed or is afflicted with, and a statement of the reasons why the petitioner…

When any petition is filed, seeking to commit any person to the custody of the Alabama Department of Public Health, the probate judge shall immediately review the petition and may require the petitioner to be sworn in and to answer, under oath, questions regarding the petition an…

When any petition has been filed seeking to commit a person to the custody of the Alabama Department of Public Health on the ground that such person is a danger to public health and such petition has been reviewed by the probate judge, the probate judge shall order the sheriff of…

Limitations; Probable Cause Hearing; Temporary Treatment Before Final Hearing. (a) When a petition has been filed, seeking to have limitations placed upon the liberty of a person, pending the outcome of a final hearing on the merits, the probate judge shall order the sheriff of t…

At the time when any petition has been filed seeking to commit any person to the custody of the Alabama Department of Public Health, the probate judge shall appoint a guardian ad litem to represent and protect the rights of such person and shall determine if the person has the fu…

Whenever the State Health Officer or his representative, or the county health officer or his representative, is notified of any person or persons afflicted with any of the notifiable diseases or health conditions designated by the State Board of Health, he shall, at his discretio…

When a petition has been filed seeking to commit any person to the custody of the Alabama Department of Public Health, the probate judge shall order such person to appear at the places and times designated for hearing the petition, and may order the person to appear at designated…

At all hearings conducted by the probate judge in relation to a petition to commit any person to the custody of the Alabama Department of Public Health or such other facility as the court may order, the following rules shall apply: (1) The person sought to be committed shall be p…

(a) If, at the final hearing, upon a petition seeking to commit a person to the custody of the Alabama Department of Public Health or such other facility as the court may order, the probate judge, on the basis of clear and convincing evidence, shall find: (1) That the person soug…

The probate court committing any person to the custody of the Alabama Department of Public Health or such other facility as the court may order shall retain jurisdiction over such person concurrently with the probate court of the county in which the person is subsequently located…

on Progress of Persons Committed. The probate judge shall order one or more persons or law enforcement officers to convey any person committed to the custody of the Alabama Department of Public Health to such facility as designated by the department or to the custody of such othe…

In any commitment proceeding, the fees of any attorney appointed by the probate judge to serve as guardian ad litem shall be set at the rates established by Section 15-12-21; and any expert employed to offer expert testimony, in such amounts as found to be reasonable by the proba…

An appeal from an order of the probate court granting a petition seeking to commit a person to the custody of the Alabama Department of Public Health or such other facility as the court may order lies to the circuit court for trial de novo unless the probate judge who granted the…

When there is reasonable cause to believe that an inmate of any state correctional facility or any municipal or county jail has been exposed to or is afflicted with any of the diseases designated by this article, the State or county Health Officer may petition the superintendent …

Certain Criminal Proceedings; Penalty. (a) The State Committee of Public Health is hereby authorized to establish the rules by which exceptions may be made to the confidentiality provisions of this article and establish rules for notification of third parties of such disease when…

The chief administrator, or his designee, of a hospital, pursuant to rules promulgated by the Department of Public health, shall notify all pre-hospital agencies who assisted in handling and delivering a person to a hospital, if the hospital learns said person has an infectious d…

(a) For purposes of this article, the following terms have the following meanings: (1) CLINICAL MATERIALS. Either of the following: a. A clinical isolate that contains or that may contain an infectious agent of public health importance. b. Material that contains or that may conta…

(a) Prior to the administration of any laboratory test for acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) or for viruses that lead to the development of AIDS or any other notifiable disease that may be designated by the State Board of Health, the board shall administer a proficiency …

All individual testing and diagnostic kits or like kits for the identification of any of the designated notifiable diseases in Chapter 11A of Title 22 that are advertised, promoted or marketed for sale to the general public in the state shall be approved by the State Board of Hea…