Terms Used In Rhode Island General Laws > Chapter 23-15 - Determination of Need for New Healthcare Equipment and New Institutional Health Services

• Affected person: means and includes the person whose proposal is being reviewed, or the applicant, healthcare facilities located within the state that provide institutional health services, the state medical society, the state osteopathic society, those voluntary nonprofit area-wide planning agencies that may be established in the state, the state budget office, the office of health insurance commissioner, any hospital or medical-service corporation organized under the laws of the state, the statewide health coordinating council, contiguous health-systems agencies, and those members of the public who are to be served by the proposed, new institutional health services or new healthcare equipment. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-15-2
• Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
• Director: means the director of the Rhode Island state department of health. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-15-2
• Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
• Health services: means organized program components for preventive, assessment, maintenance, diagnostic, treatment, and rehabilitative services provided in a healthcare facility. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-15-2
• Health services council: means the advisory body to the Rhode Island state department of health established in accordance with chapter 17 of this title, appointed and empowered as provided to serve as the advisory body to the state agency in its review functions under this chapter. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-15-2
• Healthcare facility: means any institutional health-service provider, facility or institution, place, building, agency, or portion of them, whether a partnership or corporation, whether public or private, whether organized for profit or not, used, operated, or engaged in providing healthcare services that are limited to hospitals, nursing facilities, home nursing-care provider, home-care provider, hospice provider, inpatient rehabilitation centers (including drug and/or alcohol abuse treatment centers), freestanding emergency-care facilities as defined in § 23-17-2, certain facilities providing surgical treatment to patients not requiring hospitalization (surgi-centers, multi-practice, physician ambulatory-surgery centers and multi-practice, podiatry ambulatory-surgery centers) and facilities providing inpatient hospice care. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-15-2
• in writing: include printing, engraving, lithographing, and photo-lithographing, and all other representations of words in letters of the usual form. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-16
• Institutional health services: means health services provided in or through healthcare facilities and includes the entities in or through that the services are provided. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-15-2
• Interest rate: The amount paid by a borrower to a lender in exchange for the use of the lender's money for a certain period of time. Interest is paid on loans or on debt instruments, such as notes or bonds, either at regular intervals or as part of a lump sum payment when the issue matures. ^{Source: OCC}
• Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). ^{Source: OCC}
• New healthcare equipment: means any single piece of medical equipment (and any components that constitute operational components of the piece of medical equipment) proposed to be utilized in conjunction with the provision of services to patients or the public, the capital costs of which would exceed two million two hundred fifty thousand dollars ($2,250,000); provided, however, that the state agency shall exempt from review any application that proposes one-for-one equipment replacement as defined in regulation. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-15-2
• New institutional health services: means and includes:

  (i)  Construction, development, or other establishment of a new healthcare facility. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-15-2

• Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
• 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.
• Person: means any individual, trust or estate, partnership, corporation (including associations, joint stock companies, and insurance companies), state or political subdivision, or instrumentality of a state. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-15-2
• Predevelopment activities: means expenditures for architectural designs, plans, working drawings, and specifications, site acquisition, professional consultations, preliminary plans, studies, and surveys made in preparation for the offering of a new, institutional health service. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-15-2
• State agency: means the Rhode Island state department of health. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-15-2
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• To develop: means to undertake those activities that, on their completion, will result in the offering of a new, institutional health service or new healthcare equipment or the incurring of a financial obligation, in relation to the offering of that service. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-15-2
• To offer: means to hold oneself out as capable of providing, or as having the means for the provision of, specified health services or healthcare equipment. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-15-2
• United States: include the several states and the territories of the United States. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-8