Chapter 131E

(a) No person, firm, corporation, or association, either as owner, agent, provider, or otherwise, shall furnish, operate, conduct, maintain, advertise, or otherwise engage in or profess to be engaged in the business or service of transporting patients upon the streets or highways…

(a) The Commission shall adopt rules specifying equipment, sanitation, supply and design requirements for ambulances. (b) The Department shall inspect each ambulance for compliance with the requirements set forth by the Commission and this Article when it deems an inspection is n…

(a) Every ambulance when transporting a patient shall be occupied at a minimum by all of the following: (1) At least one emergency medical technician who shall be responsible for the medical aspects of the mission prior to arrival at the medical facility, assuming no other indivi…

(a) Individuals seeking credentials as an emergency medical technician, advanced emergency medical technician, paramedic, emergency medical responder, emergency medical dispatcher, or emergency medical services instructor shall apply to the Department using forms prescribed by th…

As used in this Part, unless otherwise specified: (1) "Board of county commissioners" means the legislative body charged with governing the county. (2) "Bonds" means any bonds or notes issued by the hospital authority pursuant to this Part and the Local Government Finance Act, Ch…

All of the following vehicles are exempt from the provisions of this Article: (1) Privately owned vehicles not used in the business of transporting patients. (2) A vehicle rendering service as an ambulance in case of a major catastrophe or emergency, when the permitted ambulances…

It shall be the responsibility of the EMS provider to ensure that the ambulance operation complies with the provisions of this Article and all rules adopted for this Article. Upon the violation of any part of this Article or any rule adopted under authority of this Article, the D…

In the event of a declaration of a state of emergency by the Governor in accordance with Article 1A of Chapter 166A of the General Statutes, a declaration of a national emergency by the President of the United States, a declaration of a public health emergency by the Secretary of…

The Department shall establish and maintain a program for the development of a statewide trauma system. The Department shall consolidate all State functions relating to trauma systems, both regulatory and developmental, under the auspices of this program. The Commission shall ado…

(a) This Article shall be known as the "Cardiac Rehabilitation Certification Program." (b) The purpose of this Article is to provide for the development, establishment, and enforcement of rules and certification: (1) For the care and treatment of individuals in outpatient cardiac…

As used in this Article, unless otherwise specified: (1) "Cardiac Rehabilitation Program" means a program certified under this Article for the delivery of cardiac rehabilitation services to outpatients and includes, but shall not be limited to, coordinated, physician-directed, in…

(a) Applications for certification shall be available from the Department, and each application filed with the Department shall contain all necessary and reasonable information that the Department may by rule require. A certificate shall be granted to the applicant for a period n…

(a) Subject to subsection (b), the Department is authorized to deny a new or renewal certificate and to suspend or revoke an existing certificate upon determination that there has been a substantial failure to comply with the provisions of this Article or the rules promulgated un…

(a) The Department is authorized to adopt, amend, and repeal all rules as may be designed to further the accomplishment of this Article. (b) The Department shall enforce the rules adopted for the certification of cardiac rehabilitation programs. (1983, c. 775, s. 1.)

(a) A hospital authority may be created whenever a city council or a county board of commissioners finds and adopts a resolution finding that it is in the interest of the public health and welfare to create a hospital authority. (b) After the adoption of a resolution creating a h…

(a) The Department shall make or cause to be made inspections of Cardiac Rehabilitation Programs as it deems necessary. The Department is empowered to delegate to a State officer, agent, board, bureau or division of State government the authority to make these inspections accordi…

The General Assembly of North Carolina makes the following findings: (1) That the financing of health care, particularly the reimbursement of health services rendered by health service facilities, limits the effect of free market competition and government regulation is therefore…

The following definitions apply in this Article: (1) Adult care home. - A facility with seven or more beds licensed under Part 1 of Article 1 of Chapter 131D of the General Statutes or under this Chapter that provides residential care for aged individuals or individuals with disa…

The Department of Health and Human Services and the North Carolina State Health Coordinating Council shall prepare and present to the Governor for approval the State Medical Facilities Plan. In preparing the Plan, the Department and the State Health Coordinating Council shall mai…

The Department of Health and Human Services is designated as the State Health Planning and Development Agency for the State of North Carolina and has all of the following powers and duties: (1) Establish standards and criteria or plans required to carry out the provisions and pur…

(a) No person shall offer or develop a new institutional health service without first obtaining a certificate of need from the Department; provided, however, no person who provides gastrointestinal endoscopy procedures in one or more gastrointestinal endoscopy rooms located in a …

(a) Notwithstanding any other provisions of this Article, a health service facility may offer new institutional health services to be used solely for research, or incur the obligation of a capital expenditure solely for research, without a certificate of need, if the Department g…

(a) The mayor or the chairman of the county board shall appoint the commissioners of the authority. There shall be not less than six and not more than 30 commissioners. Upon a finding that it is in the public interest, the commissioners may adopt a resolution increasing or decrea…

(a) A certificate of need shall be valid only for the defined scope, physical location, and person named in the application. A certificate of need shall not be transferred or assigned except as provided in G.S. 131E-189(c). (b) A recipient of a certificate of need, or any person …

(a) The Department in its rules shall establish schedules for submission and review of completed applications. The schedules shall provide that applications for similar proposals in the same service area will be reviewed together. (b) An application for a certificate of need shal…

(a) The Department shall review all applications utilizing the criteria outlined in this subsection and shall determine that an application is either consistent with or not in conflict with these criteria before a certificate of need for the proposed project shall be issued. (1) …

(a) Except as provided in subsection (b) of this section, the Department shall exempt from certificate of need review a new institutional health service if it receives prior written notice from the entity proposing the new institutional health service, which notice includes an ex…

(a) Repealed by Session Laws 1987, c. 511, s. 1. (a1) Except as provided in subsection (c) of this section, there shall be a time limit of 90 days for review of the applications, beginning on the day established by rule as the day on which applications for the particular service …

(a) Within the prescribed time limits in G.S. 131E-185, the Department shall issue a decision to "approve," "approve with conditions," or "deny," an application for a new institutional health service. Approvals involving new or expanded bed capacity for nursing care or intermedia…

(a),(b) Repealed by Session Laws 2009-373, s. 1, effective July 31, 2009. (c) The Department shall issue a certificate of need in accordance with the time line requirements of this section but only after all applicable conditions of approval that can be satisfied before issuance …

(a) After a decision of the Department to issue, deny or withdraw a certificate of need or exemption or to issue a certificate of need pursuant to a settlement agreement with an applicant to the extent permitted by law, any affected person, as defined in subsection (c) of this se…

(a) The Department shall specify in each certificate of need the time the holder has to make the service or equipment available or to complete the project and the timetable to be followed. The timetable shall be the one proposed by the holder of the certificate of need unless the…

(a) After the commissioners are appointed, they shall present to the Secretary of State an application for incorporation as a hospital authority. The application shall be signed by each of the commissioners and shall set forth: (1) That the city council or the county board of com…

(a) Only those new institutional health services which are found by the Department to be needed as provided in this Article and granted certificates of need shall be offered or developed within the State. (b) No formal commitments made for financing, construction, or acquisition …

No person registered as a lobbyist under Chapter 120C of the General Statutes shall be appointed to or serve on the North Carolina State Health Coordinating Council. No person previously registered as a lobbyist under Chapter 120C of the General Statutes shall be appointed to or …

Except as otherwise provided in this Chapter, a petition for a contested case that is authorized by this Chapter shall be filed in the Office of Administrative Hearings within 30 days after the Department mails written notice of an agency decision to the person filing the petitio…

(a) The territorial boundaries of a hospital authority shall include the city or county creating the authority and the area within 10 miles from the territorial boundaries of that city or county. However, a hospital authority may engage in health care activities in a county outsi…

This Article shall be known as the "Hospice Licensure Act." The purpose of this Article is to establish licensing requirements for hospices. (1983 (Reg. Sess., 1984), c. 1022, s. 1; 1987, c. 34.)

As used in this Article, unless a different meaning or construction is clearly required by the context: (1) "Commission" means the North Carolina Medical Care Commission. (2) "Department" means the Department of Health and Human Services. (3) "Hospice" means any coordinated progr…

(a) The Commission shall adopt rules for the licensing and regulation of hospices, hospice inpatient facilities, and hospice residential care facilities pursuant to this Article for the purpose of providing care, treatment, health, safety, welfare, and comfort of hospice patients…

(a) Except as provided in subsection (b) of this section, no person or other entity shall operate or represent himself or itself to the public as operating a hospice, a hospice inpatient facility, or a hospice residential care facility, or offer or represent himself or itself to …

The Department shall inspect all hospices that are subject to rules adopted pursuant to this Article in order to determine compliance with the provisions of this Article and with rules adopted thereunder. Inspections shall be conducted in accordance with rules adopted by the Comm…

(a) The Department may suspend, revoke, cancel, or amend a license when there has been a substantial failure to comply with this Article or with rules and regulations adopted thereunder. (b) Chapter 150A of the General Statutes, the Administrative Procedure Act, shall govern all …

(a) Notwithstanding the existence or pursuit of any other remedy, the Department may maintain an action in the name of the State for injunctive relief or other process against any person to restrain or prevent the establishment, conduct, management, or operation of a hospice with…

(a) Notwithstanding G.S. 8-53 or any other law relating to confidentiality of communications between physician and patient, in the course of an inspection conducted under G.S. 131E-204: (1) Department representatives may review any writing or other record concerning the admission…

(a) Each hospice care facility licensed under this Article shall permit patients to receive visitors to the fullest extent permitted under any applicable rules, regulations, or guidelines adopted by either the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services or the Centers for Disease …

In the event of a declaration of a state of emergency by the Governor in accordance with Article 1A of Chapter 166A of the General Statutes, a declaration of a national emergency by the President of the United States, a declaration of a public health emergency by the Secretary of…

(a) No commissioner or employee of the hospital authority or that person's spouse shall do either of the following: (1) Acquire any interest, direct or indirect, in any hospital facility or in any property included or planned to be included in a hospital facility. (2) Have any in…

(a) This Article is the Medical Care Data Act. (b) The General Assembly finds that, as a result of rising medical care costs and the concern expressed by medical care providers, medical care consumers, third-party payors, and health care planners involved with planning for the pr…

The following definitions apply in this Article: (1) Division. - The Division of Health Service Regulation of the Department of Health and Human Services. (2) Freestanding ambulatory surgical facility. - A facility licensed under Part 4 of Article 6 of this Chapter. (3) Hospital.…