Title 44, Health

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 Public Health 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 for any federal cri…

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…

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 …

Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, upon approval of the proposed lease and sale of Medical University of South Carolina facilities and assets, no one who is currently an employee of MUSC or UMA may personally profit from the transaction by accepting compe…

No condition of any lease or agreement shall restrict MUSC employees to shared participation with one company's health care third party providers.

At the time of default by Columbia HCA or end of the lease, MUSC shall not be required to purchase the Medical Center as a going concern but rather at the appraised value of the tangible assets owned by the lessee as personal property inventory.

Any discontinuation or transfer of any inpatient clinical service offered at the Medical Center shall be with the prior written consent of the MUSC Board of Trustees.

(A)(1) The department may deny, suspend, or revoke licenses or assess a monetary penalty, or both, against a person or facility for: (a) violating a provision of this article or departmental regulations; (b) engaging in conduct or practices detrimental to the health or safety of …

All agreements between University Medical Associates and any of its servants, agents, and subsidiaries and partners are subject to review and approval by the Board of Trustees of the Medical University of South Carolina and the terms of any such agreements shall not conflict with…

Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, including any provision of the Annual General Appropriations Act for FY 1996-97, members of the General Assembly must pay any co-payment or deductible as may be applicable for receiving services at a hospital facility in…

Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, upon approval of the proposed sale or lease of MUSC's facilities and assets, MUSC must maintain the current level of services currently offered to indigent patients at Charleston Memorial Hospital unless the MUSC Board o…

Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, any financial obligation under the agreements entered into by a subsidiary corporation must be unconditionally guaranteed by the ultimate parent corporation of the purchaser/tenant.

(A)(1) The Medical University of South Carolina shall collect data on the incidence of Parkinson's disease in South Carolina and other epidemiological data as defined in this section. (2) For the purposes of this section: (a) "Parkinson's disease" means a chronic and progressive …

(A)(1) A health care facility, as defined in Section 44-7-130, and a health care provider licensed pursuant to Title 40 may charge a fee for the search and duplication of a medical record, whether in paper format or electronic format, but the fee may not exceed: (a) for records r…

(A) For purposes of this section: (1) "Debt collection" means an action, conduct, or practice in collecting, or in soliciting for collection, consumer debts that are due or alleged to be due a creditor. (2) "Healthcare facility" means: (a) acute care hospitals; (b) psychiatric ho…

The department, in accordance with the laws of this State governing injunctions and other processes, may maintain an action in the name of the State against any person or facility for violation of this article and regulations promulgated under this article. In charging any defend…

Any person or facility violating any of the provisions of this article or a regulation under this article is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, must be fined not more than one hundred dollars for the first offense and not more than five thousand dollars for a subsequen…

This article may be cited as the "Lewis Blackman Hospital Patient Safety Act".

For purposes of this article: (1) "Clinical staff" means persons who work in a hospital whose duties include the personal care or medical treatment of patients. "Clinical staff" includes, but is not limited to, credentialed physicians, physicians' assistants, nurses, nursing aide…

All clinical staff, clinical trainees, medical students, interns, and resident physicians of a hospital shall wear badges clearly stating their names, using at a minimum either first or last names with appropriate initials, their departments, and their job or trainee titles. All …

Except in emergency admissions, a hospital shall provide to each patient prior to, or at the time of the patient's admission to the hospital for inpatient care or outpatient surgery, written information describing the general role of clinical trainees, medical students, interns, …