Part Definitions

  1. Law
  2. Tennessee Code
  3. Health, Safety and Environmental Protection
  4. Health Facilities and Resources
  5. Medical Records Act of 1974
  6. Part Definitions

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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 received at hospitals that pertain to the organization, administration or management of the business and affairs of hospitals, but that do not constitute hospital records as defined in subdivision (5);
  3. “Department” means the department of health;
  4. “Hospital” means any institution, place, building or agency that has been licensed by the board, as defined in § 68-11-201, or any clinic operated under the authority of a local or regional health department established under chapter 2, parts 6 and 7, of this title;
    1. “Hospital records” means those medical histories, records, reports, summaries, diagnoses, prognoses, records of treatment and medication ordered and given, entries, X-rays, radiology interpretations, and other written, electronic, or graphic data prepared, kept, made or maintained in hospitals that pertain to hospital confinements or hospital services rendered to patients admitted to hospitals or receiving emergency room or outpatient care;
    2. “Hospital records” also includes reductions of the original records upon photographic film of convenient size as provided in § 68-11-306;
    3. “Hospital records” do not, however, include ordinary business records pertaining to patients' accounts or the administration of the institution;
    1. “Patient” includes, but is not limited to, outpatients, inpatients, persons dead on arrival, persons receiving emergency room care, and the newborn;
    2. For the purposes of this part, an unborn fetus shall not be considered a patient, whether the result of miscarriage or abortion; and
  7. “Retirement” means the withdrawal from current files of hospital records, business records, or parts thereof on or after the expiration of the applicable period of retention established pursuant to § 68-11-305.


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