Title 68, Health, Safety and Environmental Protection

The health facilities commission shall post on the official state of Tennessee website on the internet (http://www.tn.gov) the names of every nursing home, residential home for the aged and assisted-care living facility regulated pursuant to this chapter and indicate whether the …

(a) The commission shall establish and maintain a central registry of persons who are treated for trauma at designated trauma centers or comprehensive regional pediatric centers (CRPCs). To further the purpose of this section, the commission has the authority to collect injury in…

A licensed home care organization is authorized to receive and appropriately act on a written order for a plan of care for a patient concerning a home health service signed by a physician, advanced practice registered nurse, or physician assistant that is transmitted to the licen…

(a) Each hospital, recuperation center, nursing home, residential hospice, home for the aged, residential HIV supportive living facility, assisted-care living facility or ambulatory surgical treatment center licensed under this chapter, except those operated by the United States …

(a) Each healthcare facility licensed under this chapter shall be prohibited from requiring an uninsured patient to pay for services in an amount that exceeds one hundred seventy-five percent (175%) of the cost for the services provided, calculated using the cost to charge ratio …

(a) Each facility regulated under this chapter with an annual average daily census of at least twenty-five (25) inpatients based on the most recent JAR public data, where applicable, or an outpatient facility that performs an annual average of twenty-five (25) procedures per day …

(a) The commissioner of health shall establish a task force in order to clarify the interpretive guidelines for reporting unusual events with regard to Class I and Class II surgical site infections. The commissioner shall make appropriate appointments, including a chair, to the t…

Information obtained by the department from hospitals and other healthcare providers under §§ 68-11-263 and 68-11-264 shall not be public information. Reports and studies prepared by the department based upon the information shall be public information and may identify individual…

(1) In accordance with the latest recommendations of the advisory committee on immunization practices of the federal centers for disease control and prevention, unless contraindicated and subject to the availability of vaccine, a hospital shall:(1) Offer an inpatient who is fifty…

Each healthcare facility licensed under this chapter shall develop a concise statement of its charity care policies for use by members of the public so as to permit individuals to more accurately assess the potential cost for services provided at each institution. Every healthcar…

(a) Health care facilities, as part of their infection control program, shall perform a local risk assessment for methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in the facility. In those facilities where current interventions have not resulted in reduction in MRSA infections,…

(a) An adult care home provider or traumatic brain injury residential home provider shall conduct an assessment of a prospective resident before admitting the resident. The assessment shall include, but it is not limited to, diagnoses, medications, personal care needs, nursing ca…

(a) Prior to employing or contracting with any person providing direct care to a resident or patient, for whom a background check has not been completed, a health care facility licensed under this title shall initiate and perform a “registry check” which for the purposes of this …

(a) It is the policy of this state to encourage the improvement of patient safety, the quality of patient care and the evaluation of the quality, safety, cost, processes and necessity of healthcare services by hospitals, healthcare facilities and healthcare providers. Tennessee f…

(a) Traumatic brain injury residential homes shall be licensed by the commission and meet the standards prescribed in this part and in regulations promulgated by the commission pursuant to this part, unless the commission waives the same. (b) As a condition for licensure, a traum…

As an alternative to the licensing condition of off-site day services established by §§ 68-11-206(a)(2)(E) and 68-11-273, a traumatic brain injury residential home serving only private pay or private insurance clients may provide day services for its residents on site as part of …

(a) Nothing in this part, including the traumatic brain injury residential homes authorized by this part, shall entitle any traumatic brain injury residential home provider to funds from the TennCare CHOICES program or any successor to the TennCare program, other than those funds…

(a) As used in this section:(1) “Family member” means a spouse, parent, grandparent, stepmother, stepfather, child, grandchild, brother, sister, half-brother, half-sister, adopted child, or spouse's parent;(2) “Hospital” has the same meaning as defined in § 68-11-201; and(3) “Pat…

(a) The commission shall appoint an executive director qualified by education and experience. The executive director must demonstrate knowledge and experience in the areas of public administration and health policy development. The executive director of the commission on June 30,…

Fees collected pursuant to § 68-11-202(c) must not revert to the general fund on any June 30, but must remain available for expenditure in subsequent fiscal years. These funds may be expended for operating expenses of the commission as authorized in the annual appropriations act.

(a) The health facilities commission shall establish an independent informal dispute resolution (IIDR) program that conforms to the requirements of this section. (b) If a nursing home is entitled to an informal dispute under 42 C.F.R. § 488.331 or 42 C.F.R. § 488.431, or pursuant…

(a) The executive director shall establish and maintain an assisted-care living facility trust fund known as the ACLF quality improvement fund. The ACLF quality improvement fund must be created by the deposit of all civil monetary penalties collected from assisted-care living fac…

The attorney general and reporter, either on the attorney general and reporter's own initiative or upon request of the health facilities commission or executive director, may petition a court for appointment of a receiver for a facility. The petition must be filed in the chancery…

(a) As used in this section:(1) “CMS” means the federal centers for medicare and medicaid services;(2) “Long-term care facility” means a nursing facility that is certified under Title XVIII or Title XIX of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. § 1395 et seq. and 42 U.S.C. § 1396 et …

(a) As used in this section:(1) “Affiliate” means an entity that is controlled by or under common control with an acute care hospital;(2) “Control” means the ability through ownership, voting authority, or contract to make final decisions regarding management and operation;(3) “H…

(a) The commission shall negotiate with the federal centers for medicare and medicaid services to secure the procedural flexibility the commission deems necessary to effectively and efficiently regulate the commission, including securing a block grant waiver amendment pursuant to…

(a) As used in this section:(1) “Emergency medical condition” means:(A) A medical condition manifesting itself by acute symptoms of sufficient severity, including severe pain, such that the absence of immediate medical attention could reasonably be expected to result in:(i) Placi…

This part shall be known and may be cited as the “Medical Records Act of 1974.”

(1) As used in this part, unless the context otherwise requires:(1) “Board” means the board for licensing health care facilities, as established in § 68-11-203;(2) “Business records” means all those books, ledgers, records, papers and other documents prepared, kept, made or recei…

(a) All hospitals, their officers or employees, and medical and nursing personnel practicing in the hospitals, shall with reasonable promptness prepare, make and maintain true and accurate hospital records, including records pertaining to abortions as provided in § 39-15-203, com…

(a) (1) Hospital records are and must remain the property of the various hospitals, subject, however, to court order to produce the records. Unless restricted by state or federal law or regulation, a hospital or other healthcare facility licensed or regulated under part 2 of this…

(a) (1) Unless specified otherwise by the board, a hospital shall retain and preserve records that relate directly to the care and treatment of a patient for a period of ten (10) years following the discharge of the patient or such patient's death during such patient's period of …

(a) Before the hospital record is destroyed, the hospital shall cause an abstract to be made of any pertinent data, where so required by the rules and regulations of the board, or as the hospital in its discretion may find proper. (b) (1) Any hospital may transfer and record upon…

Any hospital may retain, preserve and store hospital records, either in the original or reproduced form, for such longer periods as in its discretion it may find proper, or as may be required by any court of competent jurisdiction.

(a) If any hospital is finally closed, its hospital records shall be delivered and turned over, in good order and properly indexed for convenient reference, to the department, which shall store, retain, retire and provide access to the information in the same manner as is provide…

(a) Except as otherwise provided by law, order or decree of any court of competent jurisdiction, or applicable rules and regulations, any hospital may retire any business records at such times as in its judgment may conform to sound business practices and the reasonable accommoda…

(a) (1) All hospitals licensed by the health facilities commission or by the department of mental health and substance abuse services shall, within one hundred fifty (150) days after the end of each individual hospital's fiscal year, submit to the department of health a joint ann…

(a) A willful violation of this part is a Class C misdemeanor. (b) No hospital, its officers, employees, or medical and nursing personnel practicing in the hospital, shall be civilly liable for violation of this part, except to the extent of liability for actual damages in a civi…

(a) It is the public policy of the state of Tennessee to promote effective communications between health care providers while rendering care to their patients. (b) (1) There is no implied covenant of confidentiality or other restriction that precludes: (A) Health care providers f…

(a) (1) A hospital licensed pursuant to this chapter shall require that all verbal orders be authenticated by a physician or authorized individual who has the authority to issue verbal orders in accordance with hospital policies or medical staff bylaws.(2) The policies or bylaws …

(a) Pursuant to § 68-1-104, the commissioner of health or the commissioner's designee may obtain records maintained by any facility licensed under this title to facilitate investigations and inquiries concerning opioid drug abuse, opioid drug overdoses, and opioid overdose deaths…

(1) As used in this part, unless the context otherwise requires:(1) “Custodian” means and includes the medical record practitioner and the administrator or other chief officer of a duly licensed hospital in this state and its proprietor, the appropriately designated person of a c…

(a) Except as otherwise provided, when a subpoena duces tecum is served upon a custodian of records of any community mental health center or hospital duly licensed under the laws of this state in an action or proceeding in which the hospital is neither a party nor the place where…

(1) The copy of the records shall be separately enclosed in an inner envelope or wrapper, sealed, with the title and number of the action, name of witness and date of subpoena clearly inscribed on the envelope or wrapper. The sealed envelope or wrapper shall then be enclosed in a…

(a) (1) Unless the sealed envelope or wrapper is returned to a witness who is to appear personally, the copy of records shall remain sealed and shall be opened only at the time of trial, deposition or other hearing, upon the direction of the judge, court, officer, body or tribuna…

(a) The records shall be accompanied by an affidavit of a custodian stating in substance:(1) That the affiant is duly authorized custodian of the records and has authority to certify the records;(2) That the copy is a true copy of all the records described in the subpoena;(3) Tha…