Senate Bill No. 636
(By Senator Prezioso)
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[Introduced February 11, 2008; referred to the Committee on
Health and Human Resources; and then to the Committee on
Finance.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact §16-5B-1 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to requiring licensing and
oversight of free clinics by the Bureau for Public Health.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §16-5B-1 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 5B. HOSPITALS AND SIMILAR INSTITUTIONS.
§16-5B-1. Health facilities and certain other facilities operated
in connection therewith to obtain license; exemptions;
meaning of hospital, etc.
No person, partnership, association, corporation or any local
governmental unit or any division, department, board or agency
thereof
shall may establish, conduct or maintain in
the State of
West Virginia any ambulatory health care facility, ambulatory surgical facility, freestanding or operated in connection with a
hospital, hospital or extended care facility operated in connection
with a hospital, without first obtaining a license
therefor in the
manner hereinafter provided:
Provided, That only one license
shall
be is required for any person, partnership, association,
corporation or any local governmental unit or any division,
department, board or agency thereof who operates any combination of
an ambulatory health care facility, ambulatory surgical facility,
hospital, extended care facility operated in connection with a
hospital or more than one thereof, at the same location.
Ambulatory health care facilities, ambulatory surgical facilities,
hospitals or extended care facilities operated in connection with
a hospital operated by the federal government or the state
government
shall be are exempt from the provisions of this article.
A hospital or extended care facility operated in connection
with a hospital,
within the meaning of as used in this article,
shall mean means any institution, place, building or agency in
which an accommodation of five or more beds is maintained,
furnished or offered for the hospitalization of the sick or
injured:
Provided, That nothing contained in this article
shall
apply applies to nursing homes, rest homes, personal care
facilities, homes for the aged, extended care facilities not
operated in connection with a hospital, boarding homes, homes for
the infirm or chronically ill, convalescent homes, hotels or other similar places that furnish to their guests only board and room, or
either of them:
Provided, however, That the hospitalization, care
or treatment in a household, whether for compensation or not, of
any person related by blood or marriage, within the degree of
consanguinity of second cousin to the head of the household, or his
or her spouse,
shall not be deemed to constitute is not the
premises a hospital or extended care facility operated in
connection with a hospital,
within the meaning of for purposes of
this article.
An "ambulatory health care facility"
shall include includes
any facility which provides health care or mental health care to
noninstitutionalized persons on an outpatient basis,
including a
free clinic. This definition does not include the legally
authorized practice of medicine by any one or more persons in the
private office of any health care provider.
"Ambulatory surgical facility" means a facility which provides
surgical treatment to patients not requiring hospitalization. This
definition does not include the legally authorized practice of
surgery by any one or more persons in the private office of any
health care provider.
Nothing in this article or the rules
and regulations adopted
pursuant to the provisions of this article
shall be construed to
authorize authorizes the licensure, supervision, regulation or
control in any manner of: (1) Private offices of physicians, dentists or other practitioners of the healing arts; (2)
dispensaries and first aid stations located within business or
industrial establishments maintained solely for the use of
employees:
Provided, That
such the facility does not contain
inpatient or resident beds for patients or employees who generally
remain in the facility for more than twenty-four hours.
Nothing in this article
shall authorize authorizes any person,
partnership, association, corporation or any local governmental
unit or any division, department, board or agency thereof to engage
in any manner in the practice of medicine, as defined by law. This
article
shall not be construed to does not restrict or modify any
statute pertaining to the placement or adoption of children.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to require the Office of
Health Facility Licensing and Certification to license free clinics
within West Virginia.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.