2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE TWENTY-FOUR - Health and Sanitation (§§ 1 — 15010) › PART I - Hospitals, Institutions, And Health Programs (§§ 1 — 343k) › Chapter 19 - Health Facilities (§§ 331 — 334j) › Subchapter Preliminary - General Provisions (§§ 331 — 331a) › § 331a - Definitions

For the purposes of this chapter the term:
(A) Health facilities. — Mean any of the establishments which offer the services that are listed and described as follows:
(1) Hospital. — Shall mean an institution which renders services to the community providing medical and/or surgical diagnosis and/or treatment for illnesses or injuries and/or obstetric treatment to hospitalized patients, including general and special hospitals such as tuberculosis and mental sanatoriums, and other types of hospitals and related facilities such as: intensive, intermediate and self-care units. X-rays and radiotherapy services, clinical and anatomical pathology laboratories and others, medical offices for outpatients, outpatient departments, nurses’ residences and training facilities, and central and related services which operate in conjunction with hospitals, but does not include institutions which primarily provide home care or custodial care. It further includes the place devoted primarily to the operation of facilities to provide diagnosis, treatment or medical care for not less than twelve consecutive hours, for two (2) or more individuals who have no family ties, suffering from any malady, disease, injury or deformity. Any office, consulting room or physician’s residence where pregnant women are received to be taken care of, or treated during an abortion, parturition or puerperium, shall be considered a hospital within the scope of this chapter, regardless of the number of patients and the duration of the stay; Provided, That part or section of the dwelling where a physician has his medical dispensary, or takes care of cases, even though such part or section can be considered, in terms of the physical plant thereof, as an integral part of his residence, shall not be understood to be a family home. The above provisions notwithstanding, the office, house or consulting room of a physician when a parturition or abortion occurs therein, suddenly and unexpectedly, and in such circumstances as to preclude the prompt transfer of the patient to a hospital, shall not be considered as a hospital within the scope of this chapter, but in such case the patient may only be taken care of by the physician in his office, residence or consulting room until the patient is transferred to the proper hospital, and such transfer should be made within a period of not more than 12 hours.
(2) Health center. — Means a combination of facilities owned by the State, located in a common area and which includes at least the following services: a hospital and a public health unit.
(3) Public health unit. — Means a State health facility for the provision of public health services, including related facilities such as laboratories, clinics and administrative offices operated in connection therewith.
(4) Diagnostic or treatment center. — Means an independent facility or one operated in conjunction with a hospital which provides community services for the diagnosis and treatment of ambulatory patients under the professional supervision of persons licensed to practice medicine, surgery or dentistry in Puerto Rico.
(5) Public health services. — Means services provided through organized community efforts in the endeavor to prevent disease and to maintain physical and mental conditions at a high level.
(6) Nursing home. — Means an institution, building, residence, family home or other place or part thereof, by whatever name it is known, whether or not for profit, including facilities operated by the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico or any political subdivision, instrumentality or agency thereof, which is advertised, offered, maintained or operated for a period of more than twenty-four (24) hours, and which offers free or remunerated services, with the express and implicit purpose of providing lodging and care for two (2) or more individuals with no family ties to the owner or manager, and who are in need of nursing care and/or related services prescribed or carried out under the direction of persons authorized to render such services in accordance with the laws of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
(7) Extended care facility. — Means that facility which operates independently or in connection with a hospital that provides services to convalescent persons or those with chronic diseases who require skilled nursing care and related medical services, excluding mental or tuberculosis sanatoriums, and including facilities for long-term or extended care, nursing homes and hospitals for chronic illnesses.
(8) Rehabilitation center. — Means a facility which is operated for the primary purpose of assisting in the rehabilitation of disabled persons through an integrated program of evaluation and medical services, and evaluation and psychological, social or vocational services, under competent professional supervision. The major portion of the evaluation and services must be furnished within the facility and the facility shall be operated in connection with a hospital, or as a facility in which all medical and related health services are prescribed by, or are under the direction of, persons licensed to practice medicine or surgery in Puerto Rico.
(9) Medical facility for the mentally retarded. — Means a facility specially designed for the diagnosis and treatment or rehabilitation of the mentally retarded, including facilities for training specialists, and research facilities.
(10) Mental health center. — Means a facility providing services for the prevention and diagnosis of mental illnesses as well as for the care and treatment of mentally ill patients, or the rehabilitation of such persons, which services are provided principally for persons residing in a particular community or near the place where the facility is located.
(11) Psycho-social rehabilitation center. — Means a residential facility with a minimum of fifty (50) beds and no more than two hundred (200) beds where, in addition to giving medical treatment to patients with mental health problems, they are provided with lodging and support and rehabilitation services.
(12) Hospital for chronic illnesses. — Means a hospital for the treatment of chronic illnesses, including degenerative diseases, and in which the treatment and care is administered by or carried out under the direction of persons licensed to practice medicine or surgery in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. The term does not include hospitals whose main purpose is the care of mentally ill persons or those who have tuberculosis, nursing homes, and institutions whose main purpose is domiciliary care or lodging.
(13) General hospital. — Means any hospital for short-term medical or surgical care of sicknesses or injuries, including obstetrics.
(14) Mental sanitarium. — Means a hospital for the comprehensive diagnosis and treatment of mentally ill patients.
(15) Tuberculosis sanatorium. — Means a hospital for the diagnosis and treatment of patients with tuberculosis.
(16) Nonprofit health facility. — Means a facility which is owned by, or administered by, one (1) or more associations, corporations or groups that operate, administer and/or direct it, but no part of its net earnings may inure to the benefit of any shareholder or private individual whatsoever.
(B) Secretary. — Means the Secretary of Health of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
(C) Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare. — Means the Director of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare of the United States of America, or his delegate for the administration of the pertinent federal laws.
(D) Surgeon General. — Means the Director of the Public Health Service of the United States of America.
(E) State. — Means the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
(F) Construction. — Includes construction of new buildings, expansion, remodeling and alteration of existing buildings, the cost of the initial equipment of any such facilities, the cost of medical transportation facilities, architects’ fees and the cost of the acquisition of land in case of public health centers; includes the cost of land in all other cases and the cost of off-site improvements.
(G) Modernization. — Includes alterations, major repairs, remodeling, replacement and renewal of existing buildings (including initial equipment thereof), and replacement of obsolete equipment within the limitations established by applicable federal and state laws and regulations.
(H) Person. — Means any individual, firm, partnership, corporation, company, association or joint stock association, and the legal successors thereof.
(I) Government Unit. — Means the Commonwealth Government or any municipality or other political subdivision, or any department, division, board, agency or instrumentality of any of the foregoing.
(J) Federal laws. — Refer to Titles VI and VII of the U.S. Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 243—292), as heretofore or hereafter amended, the U.S. Public Law 79-725 of July 1, 1944, amended by U.S. Public Law 94-641, known as the Hill-Burton Act, or any other federal legislation that may be enacted by the Congress of the United States of America in relation with the construction and modernization of hospitals and other health facilities.
History —June 26, 1965, No. 101, p. 250, § 2; June 13, 1968, No. 80, p. 137, § 1; July 20, 1979, No. 150, p. 368, § 2.