TITLE 31 HEALTH

Section 7. Regulation and Construction of Hospitals and Other Health Care Facilities, 31-7-1 through 31-7-412.

ARTICLE 1 REGULATION OF HOSPITALS AND RELATED INSTITUTIONS

31-7-1. Definitions.

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.)

The 2011 amendment, effective July 1, 2011, in subparagraph (4)(A), inserted "assisted living care," near the middle, and inserted "assisted living community," near the end.