Title 36, Public Health and Safety

The responsibilities of the Office of Rural Health shall include but not be limited to: (1) Coordinating statewide efforts for providing health care in rural areas. (2) Accepting and processing applications from communities interested in developing health care delivery systems. (…

(1) In carrying out its responsibilities, the Office of Rural Health shall be advised by the Rural Health Coordinating Council. All members of the Rural Health Coordinating Council shall have knowledge, interest, expertise or experience in rural areas and health care delivery. Th…

The responsibilities of the Rural Health Coordinating Council shall be to: (1) Advise the Office of Rural Health on matters related to the health care services and needs of rural communities; (2) Develop general recommendations to meet the identified needs of rural communities; a…

(1) The Office of Rural Health shall provide technical assistance to rural communities interested in developing health care delivery systems. (2) Communities shall make application for this technical assistance on forms developed by the office for this purpose. (3) The office may…

(1) For purposes of determining the size of a rural hospital, beds certified by the Oregon Health Authority on the license of the hospital as special inpatient care beds shall not be included. (2) As used in this section, “special inpatient care beds” means beds that: (a) Are use…

In addition to any other authorized uses of funds for economic development available from the Administrative Services Economic Development Fund, economic development grants may be made for the purpose of constructing, equipping, refurbishing, modernizing and making other capital …

The Office of Rural Health shall institute a program to provide technical assistance to rural hospitals. The Office of Rural Health shall be primarily responsible for providing: (1) A recruitment and retention program for physicians and other primary care providers in rural areas…

(1) With the moneys transferred to the Office of Rural Health by ORS 442.870, the office shall establish a dedicated grant program for the purpose of providing assistance to rural communities to enhance emergency medical service systems. (2) Communities, as well as nonprofit or g…

The Legislative Assembly finds that Oregon rural hospitals are an integral part of the communities and geographic area where they are located. Their impact on the economic well-being and health status of the citizens is vast. The problems faced by rural hospitals include a genera…

(1) Subject to the formula set out in subsection (2) of this section, the Office of Rural Health, in consultation with a trade association representing hospitals and health systems in Oregon, shall establish a risk assessment formula to identify the relative risk of a rural hospi…

The Office of Rural Health shall establish criteria for certifying individuals who are licensed under ORS chapter 679 as eligible for the tax credit authorized by ORS 315.616. Upon application therefor and upon a finding that the applicant is or will be providing dental services …

The Office of Rural Health shall establish criteria for certifying individuals who are licensed to practice podiatry under ORS chapter 677 as eligible for the tax credit authorized by ORS 315.616. Upon application therefor and upon a finding that the applicant is or will be provi…

(1) The Office of Rural Health shall establish criteria for certifying individuals eligible for the tax credit authorized by ORS 315.613. Upon application therefor, the office shall certify individuals eligible for the tax credit authorized by ORS 315.613. (2) The classification …

The Office of Rural Health shall establish criteria for certifying individuals who are licensed as optometrists under ORS 683.010 to 683.340 as eligible for the tax credit authorized by ORS 315.616. Upon application therefor and upon a finding that the applicant is or will be pro…

The Office of Rural Health shall establish criteria for certifying individuals who are licensed as emergency medical services providers under ORS chapter 682 as eligible for the tax credit authorized by ORS 315.622. Upon application for the credit and upon a finding that the appl…

(1) The Oregon Health and Science University shall develop and implement a program to focus recruitment efforts on students who reside in or who are interested in practicing in rural or medically underserved areas of this state. (2) The university shall reserve a number of admiss…

(1) There is established in the State Treasury a fund, separate and distinct from the General Fund, to be known as the Primary Care Services Fund. Moneys in the Primary Care Services Fund are continuously appropriated to the Oregon Department of Administrative Services for alloca…

As used in this section and ORS 442.602: (1) “Charity care” means free or discounted health services provided to persons who cannot afford to pay and from whom a hospital has no expectation of payment. “Charity care” does not include bad debt, contractual allowances or discounts …

(1) The Oregon Health Authority shall by rule adopt a cost-based community benefit reporting system for hospitals operating in Oregon that is consistent with established national standards for hospital reporting of community benefits. (2) Within 90 days of filing a Medicare cost …

(1) As used in this section: (a) “Financial assistance policy” means a policy that meets the requirements of section 501(r) of the Internal Revenue Code and implementing regulations. (b) “Hospital” has the meaning given that term in ORS 442.015. (c) “Nonprofit” has the meaning gi…

As used in ORS 442.612 to 442.630: (1) “Adjust” means to reduce a patient’s cost by a specified percentage. (2) “Community benefit” has the meaning given that term in ORS 442.601. (3) “Gross charges” means a hospital’s full, established price for medical care that the hospital co…

(1) A nonprofit hospital’s written financial assistance policy described in ORS 442.610 must: (a) Provide for adjusting a patient’s costs as follows: (A) For a patient whose household income is not more than 200 percent of the federal poverty guidelines, by 100 percent; (B) For a…

(1) As used in this section: (a) “Financial assistance” includes: (A) Charity care, as defined in ORS 442.601; or (B) An adjustment to a patient’s costs for care under ORS 442.614 (1)(a). (b) “Hospital” has the meaning given that term in ORS 442.612. (2) Using the process prescri…

(1) As used in this section: (a) “Extraordinary collection action” means actions referenced in section 501(r)(6) of the Internal Revenue Code or implementing regulations. (b) “Health care facility” has the meaning given that term in ORS 442.015, excluding long term care facilitie…

(1) Every two years, the Oregon Health Authority shall establish a community benefit spending floor as provided in this section based on objective data and criteria, including but not limited to the following: (a) Historical and current expenditures on community benefits by the h…

A nonprofit hospital shall post to the hospital’s website the following information regarding its community health needs assessment conducted in accordance with section 501(r)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code: (1) A description of the health care needs identified in the hospital’s…

As used in ORS 442.700 to 442.760: (1) “Board of governors” means the governors of a cooperative program as described in ORS 442.720. (2) “Cooperative program” means a program among two or more health care providers for the purpose of providing heart and kidney transplant service…

(1) The Legislative Assembly finds that direct competition among health care providers in the field of heart and kidney transplant services may not result in the most cost efficient and least expensive transplant services for the citizens of this state and that it is in the publi…

(1) The Oregon Health and Science University and one or more entities, each of which operates at least three hospitals in a single urban area in this state, may apply to the Director of the Oregon Health Authority for approval of a cooperative program. The application shall inclu…

(1) To the extent permitted by an order issued under ORS 442.710, health care providers providing heart and kidney transplant services through a cooperative program approved under ORS 442.700 to 442.760 may engage in the following practices in order to achieve the goals described…

(1) If the Director of the Oregon Health Authority issues an order approving an application for a cooperative program under ORS 442.710, the director shall establish a board of governors to govern the cooperative program. The board of governors shall not constitute, for any purpo…

Not later than 60 days following each anniversary date of the approval of a cooperative program by the Director of the Oregon Health Authority, the board of governors of the cooperative program shall deliver an annual report to the director. The report shall specifically describe…

(1) The Director of the Oregon Health Authority shall review and evaluate the annual report delivered under ORS 442.725. The director shall: (a) Determine the extent to which the cooperative program is achieving the goals identified in the order; (b) Review the activities being c…

(1) Any person may file a complaint with the Director of the Oregon Health Authority requesting that a specific decision or action of a cooperative program supervised by the director be reversed or modified, or that approval for all or part of the activities permitted by the orde…

(1) During the review of the annual report described in ORS 442.730, after receiving a complaint under ORS 442.735, or on the director’s own initiative, the Director of the Oregon Health Authority may take one or more of the following actions: (a) If the director determines that …

If parties to a cooperative program agreement provide the Director of the Oregon Health Authority with written or oral information that is confidential or otherwise protected from disclosure under Oregon law, the disclosures shall not be considered a waiver of any right to protec…

(1) Notwithstanding the provisions of ORS 646.705 to 646.836: (a) A cooperative program for which approval has been granted under ORS 442.700 to 442.760 and 646.740 is a lawful program to the extent it engages in activities permitted by the order and supervised by the Director of…

(1) The Director of the Oregon Health Authority shall adopt rules as may be necessary to carry out the provisions of ORS 442.700 to 442.760. (2) The costs of program approval and supervision shall be paid by the parties to a cooperative program agreement and the director shall se…

Notwithstanding the provisions of ORS 183.310 (7) and 183.480, only a party to a cooperative program agreement or the Director of the Oregon Health Authority shall be entitled to a contested case hearing or judicial review of an order issued pursuant to ORS 442.700 to 442.760 and…

As used in ORS 442.819 to 442.851: (1) “Adverse event” means an objective and definable negative consequence of patient care, or the risk of an objective and definable negative consequence of patient care, that: (a) Is unanticipated and usually preventable; and (b) Results in or …

(1) The Oregon Patient Safety Commission is established as a semi-independent state agency subject to ORS 182.456 to 182.472. The commission shall exercise and carry out all powers, rights and privileges that are expressly conferred upon it, are implied by law or are incident to …

The Oregon Patient Safety Commission may accept contributions of funds and assistance from the United States Government or its agencies or from any other source, public or private, and agree to conditions not inconsistent with the purposes of the commission. All funds received by…

(1) There is established the Oregon Patient Safety Commission Board of Directors consisting of 17 members, including the Public Health Officer and 16 directors who shall be appointed by the Governor and who shall be confirmed by the Senate in the manner prescribed in ORS 171.562 …

(1) Except as otherwise provided in ORS 442.819 to 442.851, the Oregon Patient Safety Commission Board of Directors, or officials of the Oregon Patient Safety Commission acting under the authority of the board, shall exercise all the powers of the commission and shall govern the …

The Oregon Patient Safety Commission Board of Directors shall appoint an administrator of the Oregon Patient Safety Commission. Subject to the supervision of the board, the administrator has authority to direct the affairs of the commission. The administrator may not be a voting …

(1) The Oregon Patient Safety Reporting Program is created in the Oregon Patient Safety Commission to establish a serious adverse event reporting system to learn from adverse events. The program shall include, but is not limited to: (a) Reporting by participants, in a timely mann…

(1) The Oregon Patient Safety Commission is the central agency in Oregon responsible for the collection of data and analyses produced by all entities in Oregon that are certified by the United States Department of Health and Human Services under 42 U.S.C. 299b-24 as patient safet…

(1) Patient safety data reported to the Oregon Patient Safety Commission may not be disclosed to, subject to subpoena by or used by any state agency for purposes of any enforcement or regulatory action in relation to a participant. (2) Nothing in ORS 442.819 to 442.851 may be con…

(1) Patient safety data and reports obtained by a patient safety reporting program from participants are confidential and privileged and are not admissible in evidence in any civil action, including but not limited to a judicial, administrative, arbitration or mediation proceedin…

The Oregon Patient Safety Commission may assess fees on the entities described in ORS 442.837 (2)(a) to (f) as determined by the Oregon Patient Safety Commission Board of Directors to fund the operating costs of the Oregon Patient Safety Reporting Program. [2003 c.686 §6; 2007 c.…