(a) “Hospital” shall have the meaning ascribed thereto by Section 41-9-3, regardless of the type of ownership or form of management or organization of the institution, and it shall include the proprietor and operator thereof.

(b) “Hospital records” shall mean, without restriction, those medical histories, records, reports, summaries, diagnoses and prognoses, records of treatment and medication ordered and given, notes, entries, X-rays and other written 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. Such records shall also include abstracts of the foregoing data customarily made or made as provided in Section 41-9-75. Such records shall not, however, include ordinary business records pertaining to patients’ accounts or the administration of the institution nor shall “hospital records” include any records consisting of nursing audits, physician audits, departmental evaluations or other evaluations or reviews which are used only for in-service education programs, or which are required only for accreditation or for participation in federal health programs.

(c) “Patient” shall mean outpatients, inpatients, persons dead on arrival, and the newborn.

(d) “Retirement,” or variations thereof, shall mean the withdrawal from current files of hospital records, business records or parts thereof on or after the expiration of the applicable minimum period of retention established pursuant to Section 41-9-69. However, no hospital record, business record, or parts thereof, shall be subject to retirement where otherwise required by law to be kept as a permanent record.

(e) “Licensing agency” shall mean the State Department of Health.

(f) “Business records” shall mean all those books, ledgers, records, papers and other documents prepared, kept, made or received in hospitals that pertain to the organization, administration or management of the business and affairs of hospitals, but which do not constitute hospital records as hereinabove defined.