(See Editor's notes.) Definitions

  1. Law
  2. Georgia Code
  3. Health
  4. Regulation and Construction of Hospitals and Other Health Care Facilities
  5. Regulation of Hospitals and Related Institutions
  6. (See Editor's notes.) Definitions

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As used in this chapter, the term:

  1. "Board" means the Board of Community Health.
  2. "Commissioner" means the commissioner of community health.
  3. "Department" means the Department of Community Health.
  4. "Institution" means:
    1. Any building, facility, or place in which are provided two or more beds and other facilities and services that are used for persons received for examination, diagnosis, treatment, surgery, maternity care, nursing care, assisted living care, or personal care for periods continuing for 24 hours or longer and which is classified by the department, as provided for in this chapter, as either a hospital, nursing home, assisted living community, or personal care home;
    2. Any health facility wherein abortion procedures under subsections (b) and (c) of Code Section 16-12-141 are performed or are to be performed;
    3. Any building or facility, not under the operation or control of a hospital, which is primarily devoted to the provision of surgical treatment to patients not requiring hospitalization and which is classified by the department as an ambulatory surgical treatment center;
    4. Any fixed or mobile specimen collection center or health testing facility where specimens are taken from the human body for delivery to and examination in a licensed clinical laboratory or where certain measurements such as height and weight determination, limited audio and visual tests, and electrocardiograms are made, excluding public health services operated by the state, its counties, or municipalities;
    5. Any building or facility where human births occur on a regular and ongoing basis and which is classified by the department as a birthing center;
    6. Any building or facility which is devoted to the provision of treatment and rehabilitative care for periods continuing for 24 hours or longer for persons who have traumatic brain injury, as defined in Code Section 37-3-1; or
    7. Any freestanding imaging center where magnetic resonance imaging, computed tomography (CT) scanning, positron emission tomography (PET) scanning, positron emission tomography/computed tomography, and other advanced imaging services as defined by the department by rule, but not including X-rays, fluoroscopy, or ultrasound services, are conducted in a location or setting not affiliated or attached to a hospital or in the offices of an individual private physician or single group practice of physicians and conducted exclusively for patients of that physician or group practice.

      The term "institution" shall exclude all physicians' and dentists' private offices and treatment rooms in which such physicians or dentists primarily see, consult with, and treat patients.

  5. "Medical facility" means any licensed general hospital, destination cancer hospital, or specialty hospital, institutional infirmary, public health center, or diagnostic and treatment center.
  6. "Permit" means a permit issued by the department upon compliance with the rules and regulations of the department.
  7. "Provisional permit" means a permit issued on a conditional basis for one of the following reasons:
    1. To allow a newly established institution a reasonable but limited period of time to demonstrate that its operational procedures equal standards specified by the rules and regulations of the department; or
    2. To allow an existing institution a reasonable length of time to comply with rules and regulations, provided the institution shall present a plan of improvement acceptable to the department.

(Code 1933, § 88-1901, enacted by Ga. L. 1964, p. 499, § 1; Ga. L. 1969, p. 715, § 3; Ga. L. 1973, p. 635, § 3; Ga. L. 1978, p. 1757, § 1; Code 1933, § 88-1913, enacted by Ga. L. 1980, p. 1040, § 2; Ga. L. 1982, p. 3, § 31; Ga. L. 1982, p. 864, §§ 1, 3; Ga. L. 1983, p. 3, § 22; Ga. L. 1989, p. 1566, § 2; Ga. L. 1990, p. 381, § 1; Ga. L. 1991, p. 94, § 31; Ga. L. 1993, p. 1445, § 4; Ga. L. 2002, p. 1324, § 1-5; Ga. L. 2003, p. 558, § 2; Ga. L. 2008, p. 12, § 2-8/SB 433; Ga. L. 2011, p. 227, § 11/SB 178.)

Cross references.

- "Personal care home" defined, § 31-7-12.

Conscious sedation, § 43-11-21.

Editor's notes.

- Ga. L. 1993, p. 1445, § 18.1, not codified by the General Assembly, provides: "Nothing in this Act shall be construed to repeal any provision of Chapter 5 of Title 37 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, the 'Community Services Act for the Mentally Retarded.' "

For application of this statute in 2020, see Executive Orders 04.14.20.01 and 05.12.20.02.

A listing of Executive Orders issued in 2020 can be found at https://gov.georgia.gov/executive-action/executive-orders/2020-executive-orders.

JUDICIAL DECISIONS

Cited in Doe v. Bolton, 410 U.S. 179, 93 S. Ct. 739, 35 L. Ed. 2d 201 (1973); Reddix v. Chatham County Hosp. Auth., 134 Ga. App. 860, 216 S.E.2d 680 (1975); Redd v. State, 240 Ga. 753, 243 S.E.2d 16 (1978); Primary Care Physicians Group v. Ledbetter, 634 F. Supp. 78 (N.D. Ga. 1986); Wofford v. Glynn Brunswick Mem. Hosp., 864 F.2d 117 (11th Cir. 1989).

OPINIONS OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL

Department cannot regulate abortion facilities not within definition of institution.

- Law concerning regulation of hospitals and institutions cannot be utilized by Department of Human Resources (now the Department of Community Health for these purposes) to extend regulation to abortions performed in facilities other than those embraced by the term institution. 1973 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 73-24.

Classification and operation by department of Gracewood and Central State Hospitals.

- Department of Human Resources (now the Department of Community Health for these purposes) has authority to classify units of Gracewood State School and Hospital and Central State Hospital as a skilled nursing home and general hospital and has ample authority to operate these institutions. 1969 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 69-243.

RESEARCH REFERENCES

Am. Jur. 2d.

- 40A Am. Jur. 2d, Hospitals and Asylums, §§ 1, 17 et seq.

13B Am. Jur. Pleading and Practice Forms, Hospitals, § 2.

C.J.S.

- 41 C.J.S., Hospitals, § 1 et seq.

ALR.

- Liability of hospital, physician, or other medical personnel for death or injury to mother or child caused by improper procedures during caesarean delivery, 76 A.L.R.4th 1112.


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