2023 Tennessee Code › Title 68 - HEALTH, SAFETY AND ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION (§§ 68-1-NEW — 68-221-1319) › HEALTH (§§ 68-1-NEW — 68-6-201) › Chapter 11 - HEALTH FACILITIES AND RESOURCES (§§ 68-11-101 — 68-11-2308) › Part 16 - TENNESSEE HEALTH SERVICES AND PLANNING ACT OF 2021 (§§ 68-11-NEW — 68-11-1627) › Section 68-11-1602 - [Effective 12/1/2025] [Effective Until 12/1/2027]

As used in this part:
(1)
[Deleted by 2022 amendment.]
(2)
"Board" means the board for licensing healthcare facilities;
(3)
"Certificate of need" means a permit granted by the health facilities commission to a person for those services specified as requiring a certificate of need under §
68-11-1607
at a designated location;
(4)
"Conflict of interest" means a matter before the commission in which the member or employee of the commission has a direct interest or indirect interest that is in conflict or gives the appearance of conflict with the discharge of the member's or employee's duties;
(5)
"Department" means the department of health;
(6)
"Direct interest" means a pecuniary interest in the persons involved in a matter before the commission, and applies to the commission member or employee, the commission member's or employee's relatives, or an individual with whom or business in which the member or employee has a pecuniary interest. As used in this subdivision (6), "relative" means a spouse, parent, child, stepparent, stepchild, grandparent, grandchild, brother, sister, half-brother, half-sister, aunt, uncle, niece, or nephew by blood, marriage, or adoption;
(7)
"Ex parte communications" means communications in violation of §
4-5-304
or §
68-11-1607(d)
;
(8)
"Facility" means real property owned, leased, or used by a healthcare institution for any purpose, other than as an investment;
(9)
"Health facilities commission" and "commission" mean the commission created by this part to develop the criteria and standards to guide the commission when issuing certificates of need; to conduct studies related to health care, including needs assessments; to administer the certificate of need program and related activities; and to 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 care centers, renal dialysis clinics, ambulatory surgical treatment centers, outpatient diagnostic centers, adult care homes, and traumatic brain injury residential homes;
(10)
"Health service" means clinically related services, such as diagnostic, treatment, or rehabilitative services, and includes those services specified as requiring a certificate of need under §
68-11-1607
;
(11)
"Healthcare institution":
(A)
Means an agency, institution, facility, or place, whether publicly or privately owned or operated, that provides health services and that is one (1) of the following:
(i)
A nursing home;
(ii)
A hospital;
(iii)
An ambulatory surgical treatment center;
(iv)
An intellectual disability institutional habilitation facility;
(v)
[deleted by 2024 amendment];
(vi)
An outpatient diagnostic center;
(vii)
A rehabilitation facility;
(viii)
A residential hospice; or
(ix)
A nonresidential substitution-based treatment center for opiate addiction; and
(B)
Does not include:
(i)
A ground ambulance;
(ii)
A home for the aged;
(iii)
A premises occupied exclusively as the professional practice office of a:
(a)
Physician licensed pursuant to title 63, chapter 6, part 2 or title 63, chapter 9; or
(b)
Dentist licensed by this state and controlled by the physician or dentist;
(iv)
An administrative office building of a public agency related to healthcare institutions;
(v)
A Christian Science sanatorium operated, or listed and certified, by the First Church of Christ Scientist, Boston, Massachusetts;
(vi)
A mental health residential treatment facility; or
(vii)
A mental health hospital;
(viii)
An intellectual disability institutional habitation facility;
(ix)
An ambulatory surgical treatment center.
(12)
"Home care organization" means an entity licensed as such by the commission that is staffed and organized to provide "home health services" or "hospice services," as defined by §
68-11-201
, to patients in either the patient's regular or temporary place of residence;
(13)
"Indirect interest" means a personal interest in the persons involved in a matter before the commission that is in conflict with the discharge of the commission member's or employee's duties;
(14)
"Letter of intent" means the form prescribed by the commission that requires a brief project description, location, estimated project cost, owner of the project, and description of services to be performed;
(15)
"Licensed beds" means the number of beds licensed by the commission having licensing jurisdiction over the facility in which the beds are located;
(16)
[Deleted by 2024 amendment];
(17)
"Nonresidential substitution-based treatment center for opiate addiction" includes, but is not limited to, stand-alone clinics offering methadone, products containing buprenorphine such as Subutex and Suboxone, or products containing any other formulation designed to treat opiate addiction by preventing symptoms of withdrawal;
(18)
"Nursing home" has the same meaning as defined in §
68-11-201
;
(19)
"Nursing home bed" means:
(A)
A licensed bed within a nursing home, regardless of whether the bed is certified for medicare or medicaid services; and
(B)
A bed at a healthcare institution used as a swing bed under
42 C.F.R. § 485.645
;
(20)
"Patient" includes, but is not limited to, a person who has an acute or chronic physical or mental illness or injury; who is convalescent, infirm, or has an intellectual or physical disability; or who is in need of obstetrical, surgical, medical, nursing, psychiatric, or supervisory care;
(21)
"Pediatric patient" means a patient who is fourteen (14) years of age or younger;
(22)
"Person":
(A)
Means an individual, a trust or an estate, a firm, a partnership, an association, a stockholder, a joint venture, a corporation or other form of business organization, the state of Tennessee and its political subdivisions or parts of political subdivisions, and any combination of persons specified in this subdivision (22), public or private; and
(B)
Does not include the United States or an agency or instrumentality of the United States, except in the case of voluntary submission to the rules established pursuant to this part;
(23)
"Planning division" and "state health planning division" mean the state health planning division of the department, which is created by this part to develop the state health plan and conduct other related studies;
(24)
"Rehabilitation facility" means an inpatient or residential facility that is operated for the primary purpose of assisting in the rehabilitation of physically disabled persons through an integrated program of medical and other services that is provided under professional supervision;
(25)
"Review cycle" means the timeframe set for the review and initial decision on applications for certificate of need applications that have been deemed complete, with the fifteenth day of the month being the first day of the review cycle; and
(26)
"State health plan" means the plan that is developed by the state health planning division pursuant to this part.
Amended by 2024 Tenn. Acts, ch. 985,s 10, eff. 12/1/2027.
Amended by 2024 Tenn. Acts, ch. 985,s 3, eff. 12/1/2025.
Amended by 2024 Tenn. Acts, ch. 985,s 4, eff. 12/1/2025.
Amended by 2024 Tenn. Acts, ch. 932,s 32, eff. 7/1/2024.
Amended by 2022 Tenn. Acts, ch. 1119, Secs.s 105, s 106, s 107, s 108, s 109, s 110, s 111, s 112 eff. 7/1/2022.
Amended by 2022 Tenn. Acts, ch. 1119, s 104, eff. 7/1/2022.
Amended by 2021 Tenn. Acts, ch. 557, s 1, eff. 10/1/2021.
Amended by 2016 Tenn. Acts, ch. 1043, Secs.s 2, s 3 eff. 7/1/2016.
Amended by 2016 Tenn. Acts, ch. 1043, s 1, eff. 7/1/2016.
Acts 2002, ch. 780, § 4; 2004, ch. 600, §§ 1, 2; 2004, ch. 942, § 2; 2011, ch ch 47, § 77; 2011 , ch. 158, § 39; 2011 , ch. 494, §§ 1, 2.
This section is set out more than once due to postponed, multiple, or conflicting amendments.