(A) If they provide care for two or more unrelated persons, the following facilities or services may not be established, operated, or maintained in this State without first obtaining a license in the manner provided by this article and regulations promulgated by the department:

(1) hospitals, including general and specialized hospitals;

(2) nursing homes;

(3) residential treatment facilities for children and adolescents;

(4) ambulatory surgical facilities;

(5) crisis stabilization unit facilities;

(6) community residential care facilities;

(7) facilities for chemically dependent or addicted persons;

(8) end-stage renal dialysis units;

(9) day care facilities for adults;

(10) any other facility operating for the diagnosis, treatment, or care of persons suffering from illness, injury, or other infirmity and for which the department has adopted standards of operation by regulation;

(11) intermediate care facilities for persons with intellectual disability;

(12) freestanding or mobile technology;

(13) facilities wherein abortions are performed;

(14) birthing centers.

(B) The licensing provisions of this article do not apply to:

(1) infirmaries for the exclusive use of the student bodies of privately-owned educational institutions which maintain infirmaries;

(2) community-based housing sponsored, licensed, or certified by the South Carolina Department of Disabilities and Special Needs. The Department of Disabilities and Special Needs shall provide to the Department of Health and Environmental Control the names and locations of these facilities on a continuing basis; or

(3) homeshare programs designated by the Department of Mental Health, provided that these programs do not serve more than two persons at each program location, the length of stay does not exceed fourteen consecutive days for one of the two persons, and the temporarily displaced person must be directly transferred from a homeshare program location. The Department of Mental Health shall provide to the Department of Health and Environmental Control the names and locations of these programs on a continuing basis.

(C) The department is authorized to investigate, by inspection or otherwise, any facility to determine if its operation is subject to licensure.

(D) Each hospital must have a single organized medical staff that has the overall responsibility for the quality of medical care provided to patients. Medical staff membership must be limited to doctors of medicine or osteopathy who are currently licensed to practice medicine or osteopathy by the State Board of Medical Examiners, dentists licensed to practice dentistry by the State Board of Dentistry and podiatrists licensed to practice podiatry by the State Board of Podiatry Examiners. No individual is automatically entitled to membership on the medical staff or to the exercise of any clinical privilege merely because he is licensed to practice in any state, because he is a member of any professional organization, because he is certified by any clinical examining board, or because he has clinical privileges or staff membership at another hospital without meeting the criteria for membership established by the governing body of the respective hospital. Patients of podiatrists and dentists who are members of the medical staff of a hospital must be coadmitted by a doctor of medicine or osteopathy who is a member of the medical staff of the hospital who is responsible for the general medical care of the patient. Oral surgeons who have successfully completed a postgraduate program in oral surgery accredited by a nationally recognized accredited body approved by the United States Office of Education may admit patients without the requirement of coadmission if permitted by the bylaws of the hospital and medical staff.

(E) No person, regardless of his ability to pay or county of residence, may be denied emergency care if a member of the admitting hospital's medical staff or, in the case of a transfer, a member of the accepting hospital's medical staff determines that the person is in need of emergency care. "Emergency care" means treatment which is usually and customarily available at the respective hospital and that must be provided immediately to sustain a person's life, to prevent serious permanent disfigurement, or loss or impairment of the function of a bodily member or organ, or to provide for the care of a woman in active labor if the hospital is so equipped and, if the hospital is not so equipped, to provide necessary treatment to allow the woman to travel to a more appropriate facility without undue risk of serious harm. In addition to or in lieu of any action taken by the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control affecting the license of any hospital, when it is established that any officer, employee, or member of the hospital medical staff has recklessly violated the provisions of this section, the department may require the hospital to pay a civil penalty of up to ten thousand dollars.

HISTORY: 1962 Code Section 32-776; 1952 Code Section 32-776; 1947 (45) 510; 1979 Act No. 51 Section 1; 1988 Act No. 670, Section 1; 1990 Act No. 501, Section 2; 1992 Act No. 511, Section 17; 1994 Act No. 359; 1995 Act No. 1, Section 6; 2008 Act No. 233, Section 1, eff May 21, 2008; 2010 Act No. 278, Sections 14, 15, eff July 1, 2010; 2011 Act No. 47, Section 10, eff June 7, 2011; 2017 Act No. 10 (S.354), Section 3, eff April 24, 2017.

Effect of Amendment

2017 Act No. 10, Section 3, in (A)(5), substituted "crisis stabilization unit facilities" for "Reserved", and made other nonsubstantive changes in (A).