Title 22 — Title 22

Approval; Filing of Copy of Amendments or Changes. No corporation subject to the provisions of this article shall amend its charter or certificate of incorporation, its bylaws, the terms or provisions of contracts executed or to be executed with dentists, or the terms or provisio…

Expenses. (a) The Department of Insurance, any agent or examiner of the department, or any other person appointed by the department shall have the power of visitation and examination into the affairs, transactions, accounts, business records, and assets of any such dental service…

Any person or corporation, not licensed under the provisions of this article, shall not use in the name, logo, contracts, or literature thereof the phrase “dental service plan,” and any corporation, not licensed under the provisions of this article, shall not imply, either direct…

Any dissolution or liquidation of a corporation subject to the provisions of this article shall be under the supervision of the department. History: (Acts 1982, No. 82-463, p. 741, §29.)

No nonprofit corporation, organized under the laws of this state prior to May 4, 1982 to operate a dental service plan in the state or any of the counties thereof, the charter or certificate of incorporation of which has been approved or consented to by the insurance commissioner…

(a) Any person or corporation engaging in the business of operating a dental service plan without first having procured a license from the Department of Insurance, as required by this article, and any person or corporation violating any of the provisions of this article is guilty…

The commissioner shall devise and promulgate reasonable rules and regulations, not inconsistent with the provisions of the article, as he deems advisable for effectuating its orderly administration. History: (Acts 1982, No. 82-463, p. 741, §32.)

(a) The books and records of publicly owned hospitals, nursing homes, rest homes or any other publicly owned medical institution may, upon request of the governing board of the particular institution, be audited annually by any certified public accountant who is subject to the co…

No licensee of the State Board of Health or Department of Public Health, applicant for licensure from the State Board of Health or Department of Public Health, or any person or entity seeking certification for reimbursement under the Social Security Act or other law of the United…

When the State Board of Health receives submittals of plans, drawings, and specifications for the construction, addition to, or alteration of health care facilities for the purposes of review and approval, the State Board of Health shall make reviews of submitted plans, drawings,…

For purposes of this article, the following terms have the following meanings: (1) COUNCIL. The Hospital Discharge Data Advisory Council established under Section 22-21-416. (2) DEPARTMENT. The Alabama Department of Public Health. (3) DISCHARGE DATA. Data regarding a patient’s di…

(a) The department, upon consultation and approval of the council, shall establish and maintain processes and systems necessary for the protection, collection, and dissemination of discharge data. The department’s discharge data collection systems and processes required by this a…

The department, after consultation and with the approval of the council, shall adopt rules necessary to implement this article. History: (Act 2021-129, §3.)

(a) All hospitals shall report inpatient and outpatient discharge data pursuant to rules adopted by the department, including rules defining inpatient and outpatient discharges. (b) After receiving the discharge data, the department shall promptly make the discharge data availabl…

Individually identifiable patient information on discharge data submitted under this article shall not be public information. Reports and studies prepared and released by the department based upon discharge data shall not include information obtained from the discharge data in a …

The department may conduct studies and publish information based upon the discharge data obtained pursuant to this article, provided the studies and published information do not include information in a form which could be used to identify any patient or violate HIPAA. History: (…

(a) The Hospital Discharge Data Advisory Council is established to assist in developing rules and standards necessary to implement this article, to review and serve as consultants to the department on matters related to any reports, studies, or publications authorized under this …

(a) A hospital shall pay to the department a civil penalty of five cents ($.05) per patient discharge record for each day the discharge data required to be reported under this article is delinquent. (b) A discharge data report is delinquent if the department does not receive the …

(a) No person or entity may be held liable in any civil action with respect to a report or disclosure of discharge data made under this article, except under the following circumstances: (1) The person or entity has knowledge of the falsity of the discharge data reported or discl…

Individual patient data submitted by a hospital pursuant to this article shall remain at all times confidential and privileged from discovery. This article shall not be construed to prohibit discovery of patient specific information from original sources where the information is …

The State Board of Health shall send written review comments to the project architect within 60 calendar days for projects costing less than fifteen million dollars ($15,000,000), or within 120 calendar days on projects costing over fifteen million dollars ($15,000,000), of the S…

The State Board of Health may charge fees in accordance with the following schedule based on the cost of building construction: Construction CostFee (percent of construction cost)Up to $100,000Greater of $500 or 1.2%$100,001 - $1,000,000Greater of $1,200 or 0.5%$1,000,001 - $5,00…

REPEALED PER ACT 2023-24 EFFECTIVE APRIL 18, 2023. This article shall be known and may be cited as the Harold Sachs Act. History: (Act 2021-470, §1.)

REPEALED PER ACT 2023-24 EFFECTIVE APRIL 18, 2023.(a) The Legislature finds that it is in the best interest of the residents of Alabama to continue to have access to their loved ones receiving acute care or residing in long-term care facilities during a public health emergency an…

REPEALED PER ACT 2023-24 EFFECTIVE APRIL 18, 2023. For the purposes of this article, the following terms have the following meanings: (1) HEALTH CARE FACILITY. A general acute care hospital, long-term care facility, skilled nursing facility, intermediate care facility, assisted l…

Requirements. REPEALED PER ACT 2023-24 EFFECTIVE APRIL 18, 2023.(a) During a declared state public health emergency, a health care facility shall continue to allow patients to receive visitors consistent with all applicable federal laws, regulations, and guidelines of the Centers…

REPEALED PER ACT 2023-24 EFFECTIVE APRIL 18, 2023. Nothing in this article shall expand, alter, or amend visitation guidelines or regulations implemented or enforced by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. History: (Act 2021-470, §5.)

REPEALED PER ACT 2023-24 EFFECTIVE APRIL 18, 2023. Notwithstanding any of the foregoing, healthcare facilities shall, at all times, allow family or caregiver presence for the following: (1) End-of-life care, including clergy visitation for end-of-life care. (2) Support for patien…

REPEALED PER ACT 2023-24 EFFECTIVE APRIL 18, 2023. During the pendency of a public health emergency, a health care facility shall not be liable for any damages, injury, or death based on a claim of negligence connected to the exposure or potential exposure to any virus, disease, …

(a) This section shall be known and may be cited as the Harold Sachs and Anne Roberts Act. (b) For the purposes of this section, the term “health care facility” means a general acute hospital, long-term care facility, skilled nursing facility, intermediate care facility, assisted…

An initial fee payment of five hundred dollars ($500) shall accompany the first drawing submittal for each project. Upon written approval of the final stage drawings, 75 percent of the estimated fee, less the initial five hundred dollar ($500) payment, shall be paid. The estimate…

The State Board of Health shall establish rules and regulations to carry out the purpose of this article. These rules and regulations shall be reviewed and approved by the advisory board established by Section 22-21-27. The advisory board shall also be provided reports at its mee…

There is established a separate special revenue trust fund in the State Treasury to be known as the Department of Public Health Plan Review Fund. All receipts received by the State Board of Health or the Department of Public Health for whatever purpose pursuant to this article sh…

(a) Any public body heretofore or hereafter created and established by ordinance or resolution pursuant to this chapter may become a body corporate and politic under the name set forth in such ordinance or resolution by filing a certified copy of such ordinance or resolution with…

(a) Any one or more local governing bodies located in the same or contiguous counties, within a zone determined by the State Board of Health as a zone for public hospitals, may act to establish a hospital association, a body corporate and politic. Before taking action to establis…

(a) A hospital association shall consist of the directors appointed by the local governing bodies, and the directors shall elect from among their number the first chairman. The term of office of each director shall be five years. A director shall hold office until his successor h…

The directors shall meet annually and shall adopt a constitution and bylaws of the corporation, said constitution and bylaws to be subject to the approval of the State Board of Health. The active affairs of the corporation shall be vested in an executive committee composed of not…

(a) Any district or regional hospital association is hereby authorized and empowered to exercise the following powers in addition to others granted in this article: (1) To cooperate with the State Board of Health for the purpose of constructing, equipping, maintaining and operati…

In all cases where the county commission of a county has, or the governing bodies of a county and of a city have, adopted a resolution or resolutions authorizing the incorporation, under this article as originally enacted or as subsequently amended, of a public hospital associati…

Any hospital association organized under the provisions of this article may be dissolved, in the manner prescribed in this section if, at the time of such dissolution, it owns no property and has no indebtedness outstanding and if it is not, at the time, designated as the agency …

The governing bodies of each local political subdivision involved are hereby authorized to appropriate their respective shares of the cost of constructing, maintaining, equipping and operating such hospitals as determined upon by agreement between the executive committee of the a…

Nothing in this article shall be construed to mean that all local, regional or district hospitals included in this article are to be under the direction or control of any body other than the local executive committee of each hospital, subject to the rules and regulations containe…

(a) Bonds, notes and other securities issued by any public hospital corporation are hereby exempted from all laws of the state governing usury or prescribing or limiting interest rates, including, without limitation, the provisions of Chapter 8 of Title 8 of this code. (b) For th…

Services and Expenses; Action by Attorney General; Payment of Claims by Insurance Companies. (a) For the purposes of this section, the term “hospital” shall mean any hospital in which human patients are given medical care. It shall include all emergency rooms or outpatient facili…

For the purposes of this division, the following terms shall have the meanings respectively ascribed to them by this section: (1) THE CORPORATION. A corporation organized pursuant to the provisions of this division. (2) SECURITIES. Notes, bonds, certificates of indebtedness, warr…

It is the intention of the Legislature by the passage of this division to authorize in each of the several counties of the state the organization of one or more public corporations for the purpose of acquiring, owning and operating public hospitals and other public health facilit…

Whenever any number of natural persons, not less than three, shall file with the county commission of any county in this state an application in writing for authority to incorporate a public corporation for hospital purposes in the manner provided in this section, and if it shall…

Certificates of Incorporation. (a) The certificate of incorporation shall state: (1) The name of the corporation, which shall be “_____ County Hospital Board,” if such name is available for use by the corporation and, if not available, then the incorporators shall designate some …

(a) The certificate of incorporation shall have attached thereto a certified copy of the resolution provided for in Section 22-21-73 and a certificate by the Secretary of State of the State of Alabama that the name proposed for the corporation is not identical with that of any ot…

In all cases where the county commission of a county has adopted a resolution authorizing the incorporation under this division, as originally enacted or as subsequently amended, of a public corporation for hospital purposes and there has been an attempt to organize such public c…