Title 44, Health

This article may be cited as the "Hospital Infections Disclosure Act".

As used in this article: (1) "Department" means the Department of Health and Environmental Control. (2) "Hospital" means a facility organized and administered to provide overnight medical or surgical care or nursing care of illness, injury, or infirmity and may provide obstetrica…

(A)(1) Individual hospitals shall collect data on hospital acquired infection rates for the specific clinical procedures as recommended by the advisory committee and defined by the department, including the following categories: (a) surgical site infections; (b) ventilator associ…

(A) The department annually shall submit to the General Assembly a report summarizing the hospital reports submitted pursuant to Section 44-7-2430 and shall publish the annual report on its website. The first annual report must be submitted and published before February 1, 2009. …

(A) It is the intent of the General Assembly that a patient's right of privilege or confidentiality must not be violated in any manner. Patient social security numbers and any other information that could be used to identify an individual patient must not be released notwithstand…

(A) The department shall ensure and enforce compliance with this article and regulations promulgated pursuant to this article by the imposition of civil monetary penalties and as a condition of licensure or permitting under this chapter pursuant to Section 44-7-320. (B) The depar…

The department shall establish and enforce basic standards for the licensure, maintenance, and operation of health facilities and services to ensure the safe and adequate treatment of persons served in this State.

This article may be cited as the "Infants and Toddlers with Disabilities Act".

The purpose of this article is to provide early intervention services to infants and toddlers with disabilities in accordance with Subchapter IV, Chapter 33, Title 20, U.S. Code Annotated, contingent upon appropriation of federal funds for Subchapter IV.

As used in this article unless the context otherwise requires: (1) "Department" means the agency designated as lead agency by the Governor by Executive Order pursuant to Subchapter VIII, Chapter 33, Title 20, U. S. Code Annotated. (2) "Infants and toddlers with disabilities" mean…

(A) The department must: (1) monitor programs and activities to ensure compliance with federal law and regulations; (2) identify, facilitate, and coordinate all available resources within the State from federal, state, local, and private sources; (3) develop procedures to ensure …

(A) The State Interagency Coordinating Council shall advise and assist the department in developing a comprehensive interagency system to provide early intervention services for all eligible infants and toddlers with disabilities and their families. (B) The comprehensive interage…

The department shall promulgate regulations necessary to carry out the purposes of this article. Through regulation or interagency agreement when appropriate the department may develop standards addressing the coordination and provision of early intervention services, including p…

(A) Based on the assessment provided for in Section 44-7-2540 an individualized family service plan must be developed by a multidisciplinary team of appropriate qualified personnel which also must include the parent, guardian, or other adult responsible for the child. The family …

(A) Families must not be charged for early intervention services provided pursuant to this article. (B) Nothing in this section relieves public or private insurance programs, or other persons or agencies required by law to provide or pay for early intervention services, from thei…

All information and reports related to children and families obtained pursuant to this article are confidential as provided in Subchapter VIII, Chapter 33, Title 20, U.S. Code Annotated. A person who disseminates or permits the unauthorized dissemination of the information or rep…

(A) If they provide care for two or more unrelated persons, the following facilities or services may not be established, operated, or maintained in this State without first obtaining a license in the manner provided by this article and regulations promulgated by the department: (…

By August first of each year the department shall submit an annual report to the Joint Legislative Committee on Children regarding the status of the comprehensive interagency system, including new and existing resources and gaps in services.

Health care facilities licensed pursuant to Regulation 61-16, Minimum Standards for Licensing Hospitals and Institutional General Infirmaries, and designated as "privately-owned education infirmaries" may be established within the jurisdiction of a larger nonmedical institution w…

(A) County or multicounty local interagency coordinating councils (ICC) representing each county in the State must be established. Membership on each council must consist of parents, providers, local agencies, and government agencies. (B) The function of the local ICC will be to …

(A) As a condition of licensure, in addition to the number of licensed nursing personnel required by R61-17, or any other regulation, a nursing home must provide at a minimum these resident-staff ratios for staff who provide nursing care: (1) 9 to 1 for shift 1; (2) 13 to 1 for s…

Notwithstanding the provisions of Section 44-7-260, the provisions of this chapter do not apply to any home or facility approved and annually reviewed by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs as a Medical Foster Home in which care is provided exclusively to three or fe…

(A) To obtain a license to operate a nursing home or a community residential care facility the person, or persons, required to sign the application for licensure pursuant to Section 44-7-270 shall undergo a state and national fingerprint-based criminal records check. (B)(1) A nur…

The department shall promulgate regulations for licensing freestanding or mobile technology. At a minimum, the regulations must include: (1) standards for the maintenance and operation of freestanding or mobile technology to ensure the safe and effective treatment of persons serv…

(A) In order to be licensed by the department, a hospital is prohibited from using economic criteria unrelated to quality of care or professional competency in determining an individual's qualifications for initial or continuing hospital medical staff membership or privileges. (B…

The department shall promulgate regulations for licensing an acute care hospital's acute hospital care at-home programs and services. At a minimum, the regulations must address: (1) diagnoses that respond safely and effectively to home-based acute care; (2) patient eligibility cr…

As a condition of licensing and relicensing, every hospital in the State with an emergency department, regardless of classification, must have at least one physician physically present on site who is responsible for the emergency department at all times the emergency department i…

Applicants for a license shall file annually, or as may be provided for in regulation, applications under oath with the department upon prescribed forms. An application must be signed by the owner, if an individual or a partnership, or in the case of a corporation by two of its o…

Licenses issued pursuant to this article expire one year after date of issuance or annually upon uniform dates, or as otherwise prescribed by regulation. Licenses must be issued only for the premises and persons named in the application and are not transferable or assignable. Lic…

A health care facility, as defined in this article, shall notify the department within thirty calendar days of a change in ownership or in controlling interest of the health care facility or entity owning a health care facility, directly or indirectly, by purchase, lease, gift, d…

The department may not issue licenses for the operation of facilities or services subject to this article unless the facility and persons named in the application are found to comply with the provisions of this article and the department's regulations.

(A)(1) A direct care entity employing or contracting with a direct caregiver shall conduct a criminal record check as provided in this section prior to employing or contracting with the direct caregiver. A direct care entity may consider all information revealed by a criminal rec…

Criminal record checks required pursuant to this article must be conducted by the State Law Enforcement Division or by a private business, organization, or association which conducts background checks if that entity utilizes current criminal records obtained from the State Law En…

A direct care entity may furnish copies of personnel records of current or former direct caregivers to another direct care entity requesting this information. Information contained in the records may include, but is not limited to, disciplinary matters and any reasons for termina…

The Department of Health and Environmental Control shall verify that a direct care entity is conducting criminal record checks as required in this article before the department issues a renewal license for the direct care entity. The department shall act as the channeling agency …

The department is authorized to enter at all times in or on the property of any facility or service, whether public or private, licensed by the department or unlicensed, for the purpose of inspecting and investigating conditions relating to a violation of this article or regulati…

An individual who violates this article, or a regulation promulgated pursuant to this article, is subject to a civil fine of one hundred dollars for the first violation and five hundred dollars for each subsequent violation. A fine imposed pursuant to this section must be paid be…

Any person who shall: (1) At any hospital order and receive or cause to be furnished any food or accommodation based upon contract with intent to defraud the owner or proprietor of such hospital out of the value or price of such food or accommodation contract; (2) Obtain credit a…

Prior to commencing the construction or alteration of facilities required to be licensed by this department, plans and specifications must be submitted to the department for review and approval in accordance with regulations of the department. If construction has commenced withou…

Information received by the Office of Health Licensing of the department through inspection or otherwise which does not appear on the face of the license may not be disclosed publicly in a manner as to identify individuals or facilities except in a proceeding involving the licens…

The General Assembly authorizes and grants to the Board of Trustees of the Medical University of South Carolina authority to enter into reasonable agreements to transfer the management and operations of the Medical University Hospital to one or more private operators, including a…

The legal description of the land and improvements thereon referenced in Section 44-7-3110(A) is as follows: All that certain property and parcels of land in Charleston County together with improvements thereon lying on the north side of Albert B. Sabin Street, between Ashley Ave…

Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, University Medical Associates (UMA) is a public body as defined by Chapter 4, Title 30 (the Freedom of Information Act) for purposes of the act and the provisions of the act apply to records maintained by UMA.

Upon approval of the proposed sale or lease of MUSC's facilities and assets to HCA, HCA shall take the steps necessary to create an employee grievance committee for the review of all employee disciplinary actions and terminations by HCA. The grievance procedure must provide that …

(A) Information received by the Division of Health Licensing of the department, through inspection or otherwise, in regard to a facility or activity licensed by the department pursuant to this article or subject to inspection by the department, including a nursing home, a communi…

Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the State Fiscal Accountability Authority or Department of Administration, as applicable, must consult the South Carolina Commission on Higher Education prior to granting authorization to effectuate the transaction provided for in this …