Title 44, Health

Before any such city or town may establish and build a hospital under the terms of this article, a petition, signed by a majority of the freeholders of such municipality, shall be presented to the city council, setting forth the purpose thereof and the amount of the bonded indebt…

If a majority of the qualified voters at such election shall vote in favor of the establishment, construction, operation and maintenance of a municipal hospital, the council of the city or town shall elect a board of trustees of such hospital, consisting of three members, one of …

The persons elected trustees of any such municipal hospital shall qualify by taking the oath of office required of other officials of the municipality and shall organize as a board of trustees of such hospital by the election of one of their number as chairman and one as secretar…

The board of trustees of any such hospital shall meet once each month for the transaction of business and oftener if necessary. It shall keep a complete record of all contracts, rules and regulations and of all proceedings of the board and also a record of all moneys received and…

The treasurer of the city or town in which the hospital is to be established shall serve as the treasurer of the hospital board of trustees, in addition to his regular duties, without additional compensation to himself unless the governing body of such city or town shall provide …

If a majority of the qualified voters in the election held for the establishment of a hospital shall also vote for the issuance of bonds in a designated sum recited in the petition calling for an election and in the notices of such election and stated on the ballots, for the purp…

Such bonds shall mature serially over a period not exceeding thirty years from the date of their issue, shall bear interest at a rate not exceeding four per cent per annum, payable annually, shall be payable to bearer within or without the State and shall be in such form and deno…

Such bonds shall be sold for not less than par and accrued interest, upon sealed bids, after notice of such sale by publication in some newspaper published in the city or town or having general circulation therein for at least fifteen days prior thereto. The award shall be given …

The Department of Public Health shall implement a targeted community program for dental health education, screening, and treatment referral in the public schools for children in kindergarten, third, seventh, and tenth grades or upon entry into a South Carolina school. The departm…

Unless a different meaning is required by the context: (1) "Acknowledgment of Dental Screening" means a document designed to serve as official confirmation that a child has had a dental screening. (2) "Authorized practitioner" means dentists, hygienists, certified dental assistan…

In the target counties of need, no later than one hundred twenty calendar days following a child's start date to five year old kindergarten, third grade, seventh grade, tenth grade, or upon entry into a South Carolina school, the student shall present to the school an Acknowledgm…

When a dental screening is performed by an authorized practitioner in a school setting in one of the targeted counties of need, the practitioner shall issue an Acknowledgment of Dental Screening for the child. The school nurse or other school employee designated by the school dis…

A screening must be performed for students in the targeted counties of need unless a parent or guardian completes an exemption form provided to them by the school. The school shall accept a parental exemption form in place of the Acknowledgment of Dental Screening.

The initial and continued implementation of the provisions of this chapter is contingent upon the appropriation of adequate funding. There is no mandatory financial obligation to the Department of Public Health, the Department of Education, or school districts within the counties…

There is hereby created the Office of Mental Health, a component office of the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities. The office shall have jurisdiction over all of the state's mental hospitals, clinics and centers, joint state and community sponsored men…

The Office of Mental Health may: (1) prescribe the form of and information to be contained in applications, records, reports, and medical certificates provided for under this chapter, Chapter 11, Chapter 13, Article 1 of Chapter 15, Chapter 17, Chapter 22, Chapter 23, Chapter 24,…

The Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities may accept on behalf of the Office of Mental Health or any of its facilities or services, gifts, bequests, devises, grants, donations of money or real and personal property of whatever kind, but no such gift or gr…

The Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities shall submit an annual report to the Governor before the eleventh day of January of each year setting forth its activities, the financial affairs and the state and condition of the State mental health facilities a…

Wherever in the 1976 Code reference is made to the State Hospital, it shall mean a state hospital; wherever reference is made requiring the signature of the superintendent of any mental health facility, it shall mean the superintendent or his designee; and wherever reference is m…

All the powers and duties vested in the South Carolina Mental Health Commission immediately prior to March 26, 1964, that were transferred to and vested in the Department of Mental Health are now transferred to and vested in the Office of Mental Health, a component of the Departm…

The Director of the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities shall determine policies and promulgate regulations governing the operation of the Office of Mental Health and the employment of professional and staff personnel.

The Director of the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities may appoint a director of each hospital. Each director must be knowledgeable in the treatment of the mentally ill and in hospital administration. The director of each hospital under the jurisdictio…

The Office of Mental Health is hereby designated as the state's mental health authority for purposes of administering Federal funds allotted to South Carolina under the provisions of the National Mental Health Act, as amended. The Office of Mental Health is further designated as …

Payments made to a mental health facility which are derived in whole or in part from Federal funds which become available after June 30, 1967, and which are provided with the stipulation that they be used to improve services to patients shall not be considered fees from paying pa…

The Office of Mental Health shall: (1) form a body corporate in deed and in law with all the powers incident to corporations; (2) cooperate with persons in charge of penal institutions in this State for the purpose of providing proper care and treatment for mental patients confin…

This chapter may be referred to and cited as the "Interstate Healthcare Compact".

Member states, by unanimous agreement, may amend this compact from time to time without prior congressional consent or approval and any amendment shall be effective unless, within one year, the Congress disapproves that amendment. Any state may join this compact after the date by…

A member state may withdraw from this compact by adopting a law to that effect, but no such withdrawal shall take effect until six months after the withdrawing member state has given notice of the withdrawal to the other member states. A withdrawing state shall be liable for any …

South Carolina's participation in the compact does not include the administration of Medicare (42 U.S.C. 1395, et seq.) or the Children's Health Insurance Program unless the General Assembly takes action that specifically authorizes inclusion of the Medicare program or the Childr…

The Interstate Healthcare Compact is hereby enacted into law and entered into by this State with any other states legally joining the compact in a form substantially similar to the form contained in this chapter.

As used in this chapter: (1) "Commission" means the Interstate Advisory Health Care Commission. (2) "Effective date" means the date upon which this compact shall become effective for purposes of the operation of state and federal law in a member state, which shall be the later of…

Member states shall take joint and separate action to secure congressional consent to this compact in order to return the authority to regulate health care to the member states consistent with the goals and principles articulated in this compact. Member states shall improve healt…

The legislature of each member state has the primary responsibility to regulate health care in their state.

Each member state, within its jurisdiction, may enact legislation to suspend the operation of all federal laws, rules, regulations, and orders regarding health care that are inconsistent with the laws, rules, regulations, and orders adopted by the member state pursuant to this co…

(A) Each federal fiscal year, each member state shall have the right to federal monies up to an amount equal to its member state current year funding level for that federal fiscal year, funded by Congress as mandatory spending and not subject to annual appropriation, to support t…

(A) The Interstate Advisory Health Care Commission is established. The commission consists of members appointed by each member state through a process to be determined by each member state. A member state may not appoint more than two members to the commission and may withdraw me…

This compact shall be effective on its adoption by at least two member states and congressional consent. This compact shall be effective unless the United States Congress, in consenting to it, alters its fundamental purposes, which are to: (1) secure the right of the member state…

The following facilities shall continue in existence and shall be maintained for the following purposes: (1) those inpatient facilities as authorized by the Office of Mental Health, a component office of the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities, and fund…

The Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities may, by resolution recorded on the minutes of its meetings, grant easements, permits or rights of way on, over or under the grounds of the Office of Mental Health facilities, but none may be granted unless approve…

The Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities shall establish mental health clinics throughout the State and shall supervise them.

The Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities may employ law enforcement officers as may be necessary to maintain the security of state mental health facilities. The law enforcement officers must be vested with all the powers and charged with all the duties o…

(A) It is unlawful for a person without legal cause or good excuse to enter on the premises of a state mental health facility after having been warned by the facility director or, in his absence, by the director's representative, in writing, within the six months preceding not to…

For the purposes of this chapter: (1) "Director" means the head of the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities. (2) "Department" means the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities. (3) "Office" or "component office" means any one or mo…

There is created within the executive branch of the state government an agency to be known as the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities. The department shall be organized as provided in this chapter and shall have the duties, functions, and powers provide…

The department shall be headed by a director who shall be appointed by the Governor with the advice and consent of the Senate. The director may be removed from office as provided in Section 1-3-240(B).

In performing his duties as authorized by this chapter, the director: (1) shall develop and execute a cohesive and comprehensive plan for services provided by the component offices housed within the department; (2) shall develop the budget for the department, including the compon…