Chapter 131E

Insofar as the provisions of this Part are inconsistent with the provisions of any other law, the provisions of this Part shall be controlling; however this Part shall not be construed as preventing a city, town, or county from establishing and operating a hospital under the auth…

(a) This Part shall be known as the "Hospital District Act." (b) It is the purpose of this Part to authorize the creation of hospital districts to furnish hospital, clinical and similar services to the people of this State. (c) This Part provides an additional and alternative met…

(a) The voters of an area may petition their county board of commissioners and the North Carolina Medical Care Commission for the creation of a hospital district. All of the area proposed to be included within a hospital district must be located within one county. The petition sh…

(a) After receipt of a petition for the creation of a hospital district that meets the requirements of G.S. 131E-41(a) and that has been approved by the county board of commissioners, the North Carolina Medical Care Commission shall give notice of a hearing on the creation of a h…

Any action or proceeding in any court to set aside a resolution of the North Carolina Medical Care Commission creating any hospital district, or questioning the validity of the resolution, or the creation of any hospital district, or the inclusion in the district of any of the te…

(a) The inhabitants of a hospital district are a body corporate and politic by the name specified by the North Carolina Medical Care Commission. Under that name they: (1) Are vested with all the property and rights of property belonging to any corporation; (2) Have perpetual succ…

The county board of commissioners may levy a tax for the financing of the operation, equipment, and maintenance of any hospital operated by the district, including any public or nonprofit hospital, if the tax is approved by a majority of the qualified voters of the hospital distr…

(a) The board of commissioners of the county in which a hospital district was created under the provisions of this Part may, if a tax levy was authorized by referendum under G.S. 131E-45, call a referendum on the repeal of the authority to levy a tax. Such referendum may be calle…

The board of county commissioners of the county in which a hospital district is located shall be the governing body of the district. All of the provisions of the Municipal Hospital Act, Chapter 131E, Article 2, Part 1, shall apply to the hospital district and to the county board …

(a) A person serving as a director, trustee, or officer of a public hospital as defined in G.S. 159-39, or as a commissioner, member, or officer of a hospital authority established under Part 1 or 2 of this Article, or as a director, trustee, or officer of North Carolina Memorial…

(a) This Part shall be known and may be cited as the "Municipal Hospital Act." (b) The purpose of this Part is to authorize municipalities to construct, operate and maintain hospitals and other facilities which furnish hospital, clinical and similar services to the people of this…

As used in this Part, unless otherwise specified: (1) "City", as defined in G.S. 160A-1(2), means a municipal corporation organized under the laws of this State for the better government of the people within its jurisdiction and having the powers, duties, privileges, and immuniti…

There shall be no reduction of services offered, no contracting of primary services, nor removal of this facility from Buncombe County without prior approval of the General Assembly. (1983, c. 775, s. 1.)

All functions, powers, duties, and obligations heretofore vested in the Board of Directors of the North Carolina Specialty Hospitals and Eastern North Carolina Hospital are hereby transferred to and vested in the Department. All appropriations heretofore made to such Board of Dir…

(a) A municipality shall have all the powers necessary or convenient to carry out the purposes of this Part, including the following powers, which are in addition to the powers granted elsewhere in this Part: (1) To construct, equip, operate, and maintain hospital facilities; (2)…

A public hospital as defined in G.S. 159-39(a) may acquire an ownership interest, in whole or in part, in a nonprofit or for-profit managed care company, including a health maintenance organization, physician hospital organization, physician organization, management services orga…

(a) The Department is authorized to continue surveys of all counties in the State to determine: (1) The hospital needs of the county; (2) The economic ability of various areas to support adequate hospital service; (3) What assistance by the State, if any, is necessary to suppleme…

(a) This Article shall be known as the "Hospital Licensure Act." (b) The purpose of this article is to establish hospital licensing requirements which promote public health, safety and welfare and to provide for the development, establishment and enforcement of basic standards fo…

As used in this article, unless otherwise specified: (1) "Commission" means the North Carolina Medical Care Commission. (1a) "Critical access hospital" means a hospital which has been designated as a critical access hospital by the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Se…

(a) No person or governmental unit shall establish or operate a hospital in this state without a license. An infirmary is not required to obtain a license under this Part. (b) The Commission shall prescribe by rule that any licensee or prospective applicant seeking to make specif…

(a) The Department shall have the authority to deny, suspend, revoke, annul, withdraw, recall, cancel, or amend a license in any case when it finds a substantial failure to comply with the provisions of this Part or any rule promulgated under this Part. (b) Repealed by Session La…

(a) A hospital licensed under this Article shall notify the Department and the board of commissioners of the county where the hospital is located if the owner, operator, or governing body of the hospital applies for federal designation as a rural emergency hospital. (b) Before op…

(a) Definitions. - The following definitions apply in this section: (1) Smoke evacuation/filtering system. - Stand-alone, portable equipment that effectively captures, filters, and eliminates surgical smoke at the site of origin before the smoke makes contact with the eyes or res…

(a) The Department shall designate hospitals that meet the criteria set forth in this section as an Acute Stroke Ready Hospital, Primary Stroke Center, Thrombectomy-Capable Stroke Center, or Comprehensive Stroke Center. A hospital shall apply to the Department for recognition of …

(a) The Commission shall promulgate rules necessary to implement this Article. (b) The Department shall enforce this Article and the rules of the Commission. (1947, c. 933, s. 6; 1973, c. 476, s. 152; 1983, c. 775, s. 1.)

(a) Any hospital or other health care facility licensed pursuant to this Chapter or Chapter 122C of the General Statutes, health maintenance organization, local health department, community health center, medical office, or facility operated by a health care provider licensed und…

(a) Each hospital licensed under this Article shall provide to the parents of newborns delivered at the hospital free, medically accurate educational information about pertussis disease and the availability of the tetanus-diphtheria and pertussis (Tdap) vaccine to protect against…

(a) Each hospital 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 Control and P…

(a) A municipality as defined in G.S. 131E-6(5) or hospital authority as defined in G.S. 131E-16(14), upon such terms and conditions as it deems wise, with or without monetary consideration, may sell or convey to a nonprofit corporation organized under Chapter 55A of the General …

(a) This section shall apply to all sales and leases of a hospital facility by a municipality or hospital authority where any portion of the facility was constructed with a capital grant from the Area Health Education Centers Program (AHEC). (b) The municipality or hospital autho…

(a) The Department shall make or cause to be made inspections as it may deem necessary. Any hospital licensed under this Part shall at all times be subject to inspections by the Department according to the rules of the Commission. Except as provided under G.S. 131E-77(b) of this …

(a) Any person establishing, conducting, managing, or operating any hospital without a license is guilty of a Class 3 misdemeanor, and upon conviction is only liable for a fine of not more than fifty dollars ($50.00) for the first offense and not more than five hundred dollars ($…

(a) Notwithstanding the existence or pursuit of any other remedy, the Department may, in the manner provided by law, maintain an action in the name of the State for injunction or other process against any person or governmental unit to restrain or prevent the establishment, condu…

A hospital may temporarily increase its bed capacity by up to ten percent (10%) over its licensed bed capacity by utilizing observation beds for hospital inpatients if the hospital notifies and obtains the approval of the Division of Health Service Regulation. For purposes of thi…

(a) The Division of Health Service Regulation may temporarily waive, during disasters or emergencies declared in accordance with Article 1A of Chapter 166A of the General Statutes, any rules of the Commission pertaining to a hospital to the extent necessary to allow the hospital …

Notwithstanding G.S. 131E-84, Chapter 166A of the General Statutes, or any other provision of law to the contrary, each hospital licensed under this Article shall allow a clergy member to visit any patient admitted to the hospital who requests or consents to be visited by a clerg…

Each hospital licensed under this Article shall prominently display in its emergency room or emergency department in a place that is clearly conspicuous and visible to employees and the public a public awareness sign created and provided by the North Carolina Human Trafficking Co…

(a) The granting or denial of privileges to practice in hospitals to physicians licensed under Chapter 90 of the General Statutes, Article 1, dentists, optometrists, and podiatrists and the scope and delineation of such privileges shall be determined by the governing body of the …

(a) It shall be unlawful for an individual who is not licensed under Chapter 90 of the General Statutes, Article 1, to admit a patient to a hospital without written proof in accordance with the policy of the governing body of the hospital that a physician licensed under Chapter 9…

The chief administrative officer of each licensed hospital in the State shall report to the appropriate occupational licensing board the details, as prescribed by the board, of any revocation, suspension, limitation, or voluntary reduction of privileges of a health care provider …

(a) As used in this Part, "law enforcement officer" means (i) a sworn law enforcement officer, (ii) a special police officer, as defined in subsection (b) of G.S. 74E-6, or (iii) a campus police officer, in accordance with Chapter 74G of the General Statutes, who is duly authoriz…

(a) Annually by February 28, each hospital shall report to the Division of Health Service Regulation, in a manner and format requested by the Department, the following data for the prior federal fiscal year ending September 30: (i) the number of assaults occurring in the hospital…

(a) Annually by September 1, the Administrative Office of the Courts shall report to the Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Health Service Regulation, the number of persons charged and convicted during the preceding calendar year of a crime under G.S. 14-34.6. (…

(a) The governing body of a municipality may establish by resolution an office, board, or other municipal agency to plan, establish, construct, maintain, or operate a hospital facility. The resolution shall prescribe the powers, duties, compensation, and tenure of the members of …

The case of a patient who refuses or fails to leave the hospital upon discharge by the attending physician shall be reviewed by two physicians licensed to practice medicine in this State, one of whom may be the attending physician. If in the opinion of the physicians, the patient…

(a) All hospitals and ambulatory surgical facilities licensed pursuant to this Chapter shall, upon request of the patient, present an itemized list of charges to all discharged patients detailing in language comprehensible to an ordinary layperson the specific nature of the charg…

(a) A member of a duly appointed medical review committee who acts without malice or fraud shall not be subject to liability for damages in any civil action on account of any act, statement or proceeding undertaken, made, or performed within the scope of the functions of the comm…

(a) Each hospital shall develop and maintain a risk management program which is designed to identify, analyze, evaluate, and manage risks of injury to patients, visitors, employees, and property through loss reduction and prevention techniques and quality assurance activities, as…

(a) Medical records compiled and maintained by health care facilities in connection with the admission, treatment, and discharge of individual patients are not public records as defined by Chapter 132 of the General Statutes. (b) Charges, accounts, credit histories, and other per…

(a) Except as provided in subsection (b) of this section, the personnel files of employees or former employees, and the files of applicants for employment maintained by a public hospital as defined in G.S. 159-39 or maintained by a hospital that has been sold or conveyed pursuant…