South Carolina Code 44-69-30. License for operation of home health agency
The department may enter into public and private joint partnerships or enter into other appropriate cooperative agreements or arrangements or negotiate and effect these partnerships and agreements to include the sale of the entity and/or the transfer of licenses held by the department or its subdivisions to other qualified providers, if appropriate, when doing so would result in continued high quality patient care, continued provision of services to indigent patients, assurance of the employment of the department’s home health employees, and provision of home care services adequate to meet the needs of the State. The department may facilitate the negotiation, contracting, or transfer of these activities through licensure and without requirement of a Certificate of Need as set out in § 44-69-75 and without regard to the Procurement Code, § 11-35-10, et. seq. However, a sale of the entity is subject to the provisions of the Procurement Code.
Terms Used In South Carolina Code 44-69-30
- Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
- Board: shall mean the South Carolina Board of Health and Environmental Control. See South Carolina Code 44-69-20
- Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
- Department: shall mean South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control. See South Carolina Code 44-69-20
- Home health agency: shall mean public, nonprofit, or proprietary organization, whether owned or operated by one or more persons or legal entities, which furnishes or offers to furnish home health services. See South Carolina Code 44-69-20
- Home health services: shall mean those items and services furnished to an individual by a home health agency, or by others under arrangement with the home health agency, on a visiting basis, and except for subsection "e" below, in a place of temporary or permanent residence used as the individual's home as follows:
(a) Part-time or intermittent skilled nursing care as ordered by a physician, an APRN pursuant to § 40-33-34(D)(2)(h), or a PA pursuant to § 40-47-935(B)(8) and as provided by or under the supervision of a registered nurse and at least one other service listed below;
(b) Physical, occupational or speech therapy;
(c) Medical social services, home health aide services and other therapeutic services;
(d) Medical supplies and the use of medical appliances;
(e) Any of the foregoing items and services which are provided on an outpatient basis under arrangements made by the home health agency with a hospital, nursing care facility, or rehabilitation center and the furnishing of which involves the use of equipment of such a nature that the items and services cannot be readily made available to the individual in his home, or which are furnished at such facility while the patient is there to receive such items or service, but not including transportation of the individual in connection with any such items or services. See South Carolina Code 44-69-20 - License: shall mean a license issued by the Department. See South Carolina Code 44-69-20
- Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
At least thirty days before entering any negotiations regarding a contractual agreement or a public/private partnership concerning the provision of home health services, the department shall place a public notice in a newspaper of general circulation for a period of no less than three consecutive days within the area where the services will be performed.
The department may establish requirements and conditions upon those entities joined in partnership or receiving transfer of the home care services, licensing, and Certificate of Need including, but not limited to, transfer of employees, coverage of indigent patients, and payments or contributions to the department to continue the provision of basic public health services as determined by the department. All agreements must be reviewed and approved by the board of the department. The department may monitor and enforce the contract or partnership provisions and/or conditions of transfer or any other conditions or requirements of agreements entered into pursuant to this section.
All funds paid to or received by the department pursuant to this section must be deposited in an account separate and distinct from the general fund entitled the Public Health Fund (PHF). The funds deposited in this fund must be used solely by the department to support basic public health services determined to be necessary by the department. The appropriation of the funds must be through the General Appropriations Act.
Notwithstanding any of the provisions of this section, the department may continue to provide public health services in the clinic, the home, and the community necessary to ensure the protection and promotion of the public’s health.