Alabama Administrative Code › Title 420 - ALABAMA STATE BOARD OF HEALTH › Chapter 420-5-9 - FREESTANDING EMERGENCY DEPARTMENTS › Section 420-5-9-.01 - General Provisions

Current through Register Vol. 42, No. 9, June 28, 2024
(1) Legal
			 Authority for Adoption of Rules. The following rules for Freestanding Emergency
			 Departments are adopted by the Alabama State Board of Health pursuant to §
								22-21-20, et seq.,
Code of Ala. 1975
.
(2) Definitions.
(a) Board or State Board of Health means the
			 Alabama State Board of Health.
(b)
			 Department means the Alabama Department of Public Health.
(c) Freestanding Emergency Department (FED)
			 means a separately licensed, provider-based department of a hospital licensed
			 by the Board which is separated from the parent hospital's main campus by not
			 more than 35 miles driving distance by automobile. An FED operates and is held
			 out to the public as a facility that receives patients without requiring an
			 appointment and provides rapid and varied emergency treatment and stabilization
			 for conditions threatening to life and limb, and sudden acute medical
			 conditions.
(d) Governing Authority
			 means owner(s), hospital association, county hospital board, board of
			 directors, board of governors, board of trustees, or any other comparable
			 designation of a body duly organized and constituted for the purpose of owning,
			 acquiring, constructing, equipping, operating, and maintaining a hospital, and
			 exercising control over the affairs of said hospital.
(e) Hospital means a health institution
			 licensed in Alabama by the Board which is planned, organized, and maintained
			 pursuant to the Board's Rules for Hospitals, Chapter 420-5-7,
Ala.
			 Admin. Code
.
(f)
			 License means the legal authority to operate an FED as defined above and to
			 offer and provide care as permitted under these rules. A license may only be
			 granted by the Board through the actions of its authorized agents.
(g) License Certificate means a document
			 issued by the Department showing that the entity named on the document is
			 licensed as an FED. A license certificate shall contain the signature of the
			 State Health Officer and other seals and markings designed to demonstrate its
			 authenticity. The license certificate shall be posted in a conspicuous place on
			 the premises.
(h) Parent Hospital
			 means the licensed hospital that owns and operates an FED.
(i) Physician means a person currently
			 licensed to practice medicine and/or surgery in Alabama under the provisions
			 contained in current state statutes.
(j) Principal means an individual associated
			 with a governing authority or a license applicant in any of the following
			 capacities:
1. Administrator, or
			 equivalent;
2. Chief Executive
			 Officer, or equivalent;
3. Owner of
			 a controlling interest in the governing authority, or, if the governing
			 authority is a subsidiary of another business entity, owner of a controlling
			 interest in the parent business entity; or
4. If no person has a controlling interest in
			 the governing authority or in a parent corporation of the governing authority,
			 then an owner of 10 percent or more of the governing authority or of any
			 business entity of which the governing authority is a subsidiary.
(k) Registered Nurse means a
			 person who holds an active license issued by the Alabama Board of
			 Nursing.