Title 44, Health

The Advisory Council shall elect a chairman annually from its membership. The district medical director shall be secretary of the Advisory Council.

The Chester County Health Department, the Lancaster County Health Department and the York County Health Department, including county health officers, medical directors and county administrators, shall be directly responsible to and under the direction and control of the district …

This act may be cited as the "Emergency Health Powers Act."

The General Assembly finds that: (1) the government must do more to protect the health, safety, and general well being of our citizens; (2) new and emerging dangers, including emergent and resurgent infectious diseases and incidents of civilian mass casualties, pose serious and i…

The purposes of this act are: (1) to authorize the collection of data and records, the control of property, the management of persons, and access to communications as may be strictly necessary to accomplish the purposes of this act; (2) to facilitate the early detection of a qual…

As used in the chapter: (A) "Biological agent" means a microorganism, virus, infectious substance, naturally occurring or bioengineered product, or other biological material that could cause death, disease, or other harm to a human, an animal, a plant, or another living organism.…

After the declaration of a state of public health emergency, DHEC may exercise, in coordination with state agencies, local governments, and other organizations responsible for implementation of the emergency support functions in the State Emergency Operations Plan for handling da…

DHEC, in coordination with the guidelines of the State Emergency Operations Plan, may, for such period as the state of public health emergency exists and as may be reasonable and necessary for emergency response, require a health care facility to provide services or the use of it…

(A) DHEC must coordinate with coroners, medical examiners, and funeral directors, for such period as the state of public health emergency exists, to exercise, in addition to existing powers, the following powers regarding the safe disposal of human remains: (1) to take possession…

(A) After the declaration of a public health emergency, DHEC may purchase and distribute antitoxins, serums, vaccines, immunizing agents, antibiotics, and other pharmaceutical agents or medical supplies that it considers advisable in the interest of preparing for or controlling a…

To the extent practicable and consistent with the protection of public health, prior to the destruction of any property under this article, DHEC in coordination with the applicable law enforcement agency must institute appropriate civil proceedings against the property to be dest…

During a state of public health emergency, DHEC must use every available means to prevent the transmission of infectious disease and to ensure that all cases of infectious disease are subject to proper control and treatment.

(A)(1) During a state of public health emergency, DHEC may perform voluntary physical examinations or tests as necessary for the diagnosis or treatment of individuals. (2) DHEC may isolate or quarantine, pursuant to the sections of this act and its existing powers under Section 4…

(A) During a state of public health emergency, DHEC may exercise the following emergency powers, in addition to its existing powers, over persons as necessary to address the public health emergency: (1) to vaccinate persons as protection against infectious disease and to prevent …

(A) During a public health emergency, DHEC may isolate or quarantine an individual or groups of individuals. This includes individuals or groups who have not been vaccinated, treated, tested, or examined pursuant to Sections 44-4-510 and 44-4-520. DHEC may also establish and main…

(A) During a public health emergency, the isolation and quarantine of an individual or groups of individuals must be undertaken in accordance with the procedures provided in this section. (B)(1) DHEC may temporarily isolate or quarantine an individual or groups of individuals thr…

(A)(1) DHEC may, for such period as the state of public health emergency exists, collect or cause to be collected specimens and perform tests on any person or animal, living or deceased, and acquire any previously collected specimens or test results that are reasonable and necess…

(A) Access to protected health information of persons who have participated in medical testing, treatment, vaccination, isolation, or quarantine programs or efforts by DHEC during a public health emergency is limited to those persons having a legitimate need to: (1) provide treat…

(A) DHEC, in coordination with the appropriate licensing authority and the Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation, may exercise, for such period as the state of public health emergency exists, in addition to existing emergency powers, the following emergency powers regardi…

This chapter may be cited as the "State Health Planning and Development Act".

The state agency, with the advice of the SHCC, shall adopt such regulations as are reasonable and necessary in order to effectuate the provisions of this chapter.

As used in this chapter: (1) The "state health planning and development agency" or "state agency" means the Department of Health and Environmental Control. (2) The "federal act" means Public Law 93-641, known as the National Health Planning and Resources Development Act of 1974 (…

The state health planning and development agency shall develop, in compliance with the federal act, a state program for health planning and development for approval by the secretary. The state agency shall make statistical reports and other reports deemed essential to the determi…

The Governor shall appoint a statewide health coordinating council to perform functions in compliance with provisions of the federal act for SHCC.

The SHCC and any of its advisory committees shall conduct all of its business meetings in public and the SHCC shall meet at least once in each calendar quarter of a year.

The SHCC members, while serving on business of the SHCC, shall receive the usual per diem, mileage and subsistence as provided by law for members of state boards, commissions and committees.

The state agency may levy a charge to cover costs of reproduction and handling to parties receiving copies of plans developed pursuant to this chapter.

All agencies, departments and commissions of the State may cooperate with the state agency in its health planning and development functions. Any agency, department or commission of the State which has authority, designated by statute or regulation, to administer state or state-fe…

There is created the State Department of Health and Human Services which shall be headed by a Director appointed by the Governor, upon the advice and consent of the Senate. The director is subject to removal by the Governor pursuant to the provisions of Section 1-3-240.

The department employees shall have such general duties and receive such compensation as determined by the director. The director shall be responsible for administration of state personnel policies and general department personnel policies. The director shall have sole authority …

There is created within the Department of Health and Human Services the Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee. The committee must consist of fifteen members appointed by the director and serving at the pleasure of the director of the department. The members must include eleven phys…

The committee shall adopt bylaws that include, at a minimum, the length of membership. A chairman and a vice chairman shall be elected on an annual basis from the committee membership. Committee members must not be compensated for service to the committee. However, committee memb…

The committee must recommend to the department therapeutic classes of drugs that should be included on a preferred drug list. For those recommended classes, the committee shall recommend the drug or drugs considered preferred within that class based on safety and efficacy. In det…

Any preferred drug list program implemented by the department must include: (1) procedures to ensure that a request for prior authorization that has no material defect or impropriety can be processed within twenty-four hours of receipt; (2) procedures to allow the prescribing phy…

A grant of prior authorization for a drug is specific to the drug, rather than the actual prescription, and extends to all refills allowed pursuant to the original prescription and to subsequent prescriptions for the same drug at the same dosage provided the time allowed by the p…

A Medicaid provider, outside of the geographical boundary of South Carolina but within the South Carolina Medicaid Service Area, as defined by R. 126-300(B) of the Code of State Regulations, prior to the effective date of the amendments to Section 1-1-10, which are effective Janu…

As used in this article: (1) "Ambulance service" means any entity defined in Section 44-61-20, which is currently certified or licensed by the Department of Health and Environmental Control pursuant to Chapter 61, Title 44, but does not include a municipal fire or police departme…

The department shall charge every ambulance service a uniform ambulance assessment fee. The fee must equal the product of the ratio of the ambulance service's net revenue to all ambulance services' net revenue statewide multiplied by the total ambulance services assessment amount…

There is created in the State Treasury the Ambulance Fee Trust Fund. This fund is separate and distinct from the general fund of the State and all other funds. Earnings and interest on this fund must be credited to it and any balance in this fund at the end of a fiscal year carri…

The department shall charge the fee described in Section 44-6-1115 only if the following conditions are met: (1) The department has received such approval from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services necessary to authorize the Medicaid payments to ambulance services in acc…

Amounts in the fund described in Section 44-6-1120 shall be expended exclusively for Medicaid payments to ambulance services and shall not be used to replace payment commitments between the ambulance services and the State. The expenditures shall be established by the department …

If the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services does not authorize or withdraws approval of the Medicaid payments made to ambulance services in accordance with Section 44-6-1130, all monies in the fund described in Section 44-6-1120 shall be returned to ambulance services. If t…

The payment amounts to be established and distributed by the department pursuant to Section 44-6-1130 shall be developed in a manner that closes the gap between Medicaid rates and average commercial rates. The department shall consult with the South Carolina EMS Association in th…

The ambulance assessment program described in this article must be used to supplement, not supplant, general fund appropriations to support ambulance services reimbursements as of the effective date of this article. The department shall not reduce Medicaid rates for ambulance ser…

(A) Pharmacy services are a benefit under South Carolina Medicaid, subject to approval by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The department shall establish a fee schedule for the list of pharmacy services. (B)(1) The following services are covered pharmacy se…

The department may impose a penalty of up to five percent of the fee for any ambulance service that fails to pay the fee within the time required by the department for each month, or fraction thereof, that such fee is overdue. If a fee has not been received by the department in a…