(1) "Acute inpatient care facility" means a licensed hospital with an organized medical staff, with permanent facilities that include inpatient beds, and with comprehensive medical services, including physician services and continuous nursing services under the supervision of registered nurses, to provide diagnosis and medical or surgical treatment primarily for but not limited to acutely ill patients and accident victims.

(2) "Council" means the Rural Health Coordinating Council.

(3) "Office" means the Office of Rural Health.

(4) "Primary care physician" means a doctor licensed under ORS chapter 677 whose specialty is family practice, general practice, internal medicine, pediatrics or obstetrics and gynecology.

(5) "Rural critical access hospital" means a facility that meets the criteria set forth in 42 U.S.C. 1395i-4 (c)(2)(B) and that has been designated a critical access hospital by the Office of Rural Health.

(6)(a) "Rural hospital" means a hospital characterized as one of the following:

(A) A type A hospital, which is a small and remote hospital that has 50 or fewer beds and is more than 30 miles from another acute inpatient care facility;

(B) A type B hospital, which is a small and rural hospital that has 50 or fewer beds and is 30 miles or less from another acute inpatient care facility;

(C) A type C hospital, which is considered to be a rural hospital and has more than 50 beds, but is not a referral center; or

(D) A rural critical access hospital.

(b) "Rural hospital" does not include a hospital of any class that was designated by the federal government as a rural referral hospital before January 1, 1989. [1979 c.513 §1; 1987 c.660 §12; 1987 c.918 §5; 1989 c.893 §8a; 1991 c.947 §1; 2001 c.875 §2; 2017 c.718 §6]