Title 68, Health, Safety and Environmental Protection

(a) A replacement facility application is an application that proposes to replace one (1) or more currently licensed nursing homes with one (1) single licensed nursing home. (b) An application or portion of a replacement facility application that does not increase the number of l…

(1) With regard to a healthcare facility that has been the subject of a change of control as defined by regulation, the health facilities commission may issue a new license to the successor owner. The use of this authority is limited to circumstances where:(1) The successor owner…

(a) In consultation with the department of health, the department of mental health and substance abuse services, and the department of disability and aging, and subject to § 68-11-1609(h), the commission shall develop by rule measures for assessing quality for entities that, on o…

(a) Notwithstanding this part, a certificate of need is not required for the establishment of a hospital licensed under this title if:(1) The hospital was previously licensed under this title or another hospital was previously licensed under this title at the proposed location;(2…

All administrative rules in effect on July 1, 2022, that were promulgated by the board for licensing healthcare facilities while attached to the department of health are transferred to the health facilities commission on July 1, 2022.

(a) The health facilities commission shall create a plan to study, for at least six (6) years, the impact of certificate of need reform and facilities licensure in the healthcare industry. The health facilities commission shall submit such plan to the speaker of the senate, the s…

(a) The general assembly finds that:(1) A disabled volunteer may be able to provide assistance in improving the services provided by Tennessee's nursing homes; and(2) The use of a disabled volunteer in a nursing home could greatly benefit the volunteer as well. (1) A disabled vol…

(a) The commissioner of health is authorized to develop, in conjunction with representatives of the Tennessee Health Care Association, the Tennessee Disability Coalition and the department of disability and aging, a framework that delineates the functions that a disabled voluntee…

This part shall be known and may be cited as the “Tennessee Health Care Decisions Act.”

(a) As used in this part, unless the context clearly otherwise requires:(1) “Advance directive” means an individual instruction or a written statement relating to the subsequent provision of health care for the individual, including, but not limited to, a living will or a durable…

(a) An adult or emancipated minor may give an individual instruction. The instruction may be oral or written. The instruction may be limited to take effect only if a specified condition arises. (b) An adult or emancipated minor may execute an advance directive for health care, wh…

(a) An individual having capacity may revoke the designation of an agent only by a signed writing or by personally informing the supervising health care provider. (b) An individual having capacity may revoke all or part of an advance directive, other than the designation of an ag…

(a) The board for licensing health care facilities shall develop and issue appropriate model forms for advance directives that are consistent with this part. (b) The board for licensing health care facilities is authorized to promulgate rules and regulations in order to implement…

(a) An adult or emancipated minor may designate any individual to act as surrogate by personally informing the supervising health care provider. The designation may be oral or written. (b) A surrogate may make a health care decision for a patient who is an adult or emancipated mi…

(a) Absent a court order to the contrary, a guardian shall comply with the patient's individual instructions and may not revoke the patient's advance directive. (b) Absent a court order to the contrary, a health care decision of an agent takes precedence over that of a guardian. …

(a) A designated physician who makes or is informed of a determination that a patient lacks or has recovered capacity, or that another condition exists that affects an individual instruction or the authority of an agent, guardian, or surrogate, shall promptly record the determina…

(a) Unless otherwise specified in an advance directive, a person then authorized to make health care decisions for a patient has the same rights as the patient to request, receive, examine, copy, and consent to the disclosure of medical or any other health care information. (b) A…

(a) A health care provider or institution acting in good faith and in accordance with generally accepted health care standards applicable to the health care provider or institution is not subject to civil or criminal liability or to discipline for unprofessional conduct for:(1) C…

(a) A health care provider or institution that intentionally violates this part is subject to liability to the aggrieved individual for damages of two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500), or actual damages resulting from the violation, whichever is greater, plus reasonable att…

(a) This part does not affect the right of an individual to make health care decisions while having capacity to do so. (b) An individual is presumed to have capacity to make a health care decision, to give or revoke an advance directive, and to designate or disqualify a surrogate…

A copy of a written advance directive, revocation of an advance directive, or designation or disqualification of a surrogate has the same effect as the original.

(a) This part does not create a presumption concerning the intention of an individual who has not made or who has revoked an advance directive. (b) Death resulting from the withholding or withdrawal of health care in accordance with this part does not for any purpose constitute a…

On petition of a patient, the patient's agent, guardian, or surrogate, a health care provider or institution involved with the patient's care, or an individual described in § 68-11-1806(c)(5), a court of competent jurisdiction may enjoin or direct a health care decision or order …

(a) Except as provided in subsections (b) and (d)-(f), an agent designated to make healthcare decisions under a power of attorney for health care has a right to in-person visitation with the principal at a hospital where the principal is located to evaluate the principal's condit…

(1) As used in this part, unless the context otherwise requires:(1) “Countermeasure” means a vaccine or the component parts used in the design, development, clinical testing or investigation or manufacture of a vaccine, including seed stocks, cell lines and plasmids, used to diag…

(a) A healthcare research institution shall be immune from suit and any liability under state law with respect to all claims for loss caused by, arising out of, relating to, or resulting from the administration to, or use by, an individual, including claims from loss caused by, a…

(1) As used in this part:(1) “Drug abuse” means a condition characterized by the continuous or episodic use of a drug or drugs that results in social impairment, vocational impairment, psychological dependence, or pathological patterns of use;(2) “Health care institution” means a…

(a) Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, a health care institution or health care provider shall be immune from suit and any liability under state law with respect to all claims for loss caused by, arising out of, relating to, or resulting from misuse of an indwelling cathete…

(1) As used in this part, unless the context otherwise requires:(1) “Adult care home” means a single family residence licensed pursuant to this part in which twenty-four-hour residential care, including assistance with activities of daily living, is provided in a homelike environ…

(a) (1) The commission may license and regulate hospitals, recuperation centers, nursing homes, homes for the aged, residential HIV supportive living facilities, assisted-care living facilities, home care organizations, residential hospices, birthing centers, prescribed child car…

(a) There is created a health facilities commission that has jurisdiction and powers relating to the licensing and regulation of healthcare facilities, as described in § 68-11-202; the certificate of need program described in part 16 of this chapter; the development of the criter…

(a) (1) A person, partnership, association, or corporation, this state, a county or local government unit, and any division, department, board, or agency of a government unit, shall not establish, conduct, operate, or maintain the following in this state without a license:(A) A h…

(a) Nothing in this part shall authorize any person, partnership, association, corporation, or any state, county, or local governmental unit, or any division, department, board or agency of the governmental unit, to engage, in any manner, in the practice of the healing arts, or t…

(a) Any person, partnership, association, corporation, any state, county or local governmental unit, or any division, department, board or agency of the governmental unit, in order to lawfully establish, conduct, operate or maintain a hospital, recuperation center, nursing home, …

(a) The commission may suspend or revoke the license issued under this part on any of the following grounds:(1) A violation of this part or of the rules and regulations or minimum standards issued pursuant to this part, or, in the event of a nursing home that has entered into an …

(a) (1) The commission and each board, committee, or council established in this title that does not already have authority to utilize screening panels may utilize one (1) or more screening panels in its investigative and disciplinary process to assure that complaints filed and i…

(a) (1) The board has the duty and power to adopt such rules and regulations pertaining to the operation and management of any facilities required to be licensed under this part, and to rescind, amend or modify such rules and regulations from time to time, as are necessary in the…

(a) (1) Unless exempt under subdivision (c)(5), every facility licensed under this part as an adult care home, ambulatory surgical treatment center, assisted care living facility, home for the aged, hospice, hospital, nursing home, residential hospice, or traumatic brain injury r…

(1) As used in this part:(1) “Board” means the board for licensing health care facilities;(2) “Capable of providing neuroendovascular treatment” means the capacity to:(A) Properly assess, diagnose using advanced imaging devices, and treat stroke patients with complex cases of isc…

(a) The board shall promulgate rules establishing a procedure for recognizing hospitals that have stroke-related designations. (b) The board shall recognize a stroke-related designation for a hospital if the hospital has an active certification as a comprehensive stroke center, p…

(a) As used in this section:(1) “Abuse” means the willful infliction of injury, unreasonable confinement, intimidation or punishment with resulting physical harm, pain or mental anguish;(2) “Commission” means the health facilities commission;(3) “Facility” means any facility lice…

This part shall not be construed in any way to restrict or modify any law pertaining to the placement and adoption of children.

(a) (1) The commission is authorized to initiate proceedings seeking injunctive and any other form of relief available in law or equity against any person who owns, operates, manages or participates in the operation of or management of any facilities required to be licensed under…

(a) The commission is authorized to employ all necessary administrative and clerical employees; and to employ one (1) or more inspectors, for such time as, in the judgment of the executive director, may be necessary, who shall be well experienced in the operation of hospitals, an…

(a) The department of human resources shall fix the salaries of all employees upon the advice of the executive director. (b) All employees and members of the commission shall be reimbursed for necessary expenses in the discharge of their official duties. (c) All reimbursement for…

(a) (1) The commission is authorized to promulgate, in accordance with the Uniform Administrative Procedures Act, compiled in title 4, chapter 5, such rules and regulations as are necessary to set fees for licensure, renewal of licensure, late renewal fees and such other fees as …