Terms Used In Rhode Island General Laws > Chapter 23-17 - Licensing of Healthcare Facilities

• Affidavit: A written statement of facts confirmed by the oath of the party making it, before a notary or officer having authority to administer oaths.
• Affiliate: means a legal entity that is in control of, is controlled by, or is in common control with another legal entity. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-17-2
• Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
• Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Certified nurse-teacher: means those personnel certified by the department of elementary and secondary education and employed pursuant to the provisions of § 16-21-7 and § 16-21-8. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-17-2
• Change in owner: means :

  (i)  In the case of a healthcare facility that is a partnership, the removal, addition, or substitution of a partner that results in a new partner acquiring a controlling interest in the partnership;

  (ii)  In the case of a healthcare facility that is an unincorporated, solo proprietorship, the transfer of the title and property to another person;

  (iii)  In the case of a healthcare facility that is a corporation:

  (A)  A sale, lease exchange, or other disposition of all, or substantially all, of the property and assets of the corporation; or

  (B)  A merger of the corporation into another corporation; or

  (C)  The consolidation or two (2) or more corporations, resulting in the creation of a new corporation; or

  (D)  In the case of a healthcare facility that is a business corporation, any transfer of corporate stock that results in a new person acquiring a controlling interest in the corporation; or

  (E)  In the case of a healthcare facility that is a nonbusiness corporation, any change in membership that results in a new person acquiring a controlling vote in the corporation. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-17-2

• Charity: An agency, institution, or organization in existence and operating for the benefit of an indefinite number of persons and conducted for educational, religious, scientific, medical, or other beneficent purposes.
• Clinician: means a physician licensed under chapter 37 of Title 5; a nurse licensed under chapter 34 of Title 5; a psychologist licensed under chapter 44 of Title 5; a social worker licensed under Rhode Island General Laws 23-17-2
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Continuance: Putting off of a hearing ot trial until a later time.
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• 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.
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• Director: means the director of the Rhode Island state department of health. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-17-2
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• Embezzlement: In most states, embezzlement is defined as theft/larceny of assets (money or property) by a person in a position of trust or responsibility over those assets. Embezzlement typically occurs in the employment and corporate settings. ^{Source: OCC}
• emergency medical care: means services provided for a medical condition or behavioral-health condition that is manifested by symptoms of sufficient severity that, in the absence of immediate medical attention, could result in harm to the person or others; serious impairment to bodily functions; serious dysfunction of any bodily organ or part; or development or continuance of severe pain. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-17-2
• Escrow: Money given to a third party to be held for payment until certain conditions are met.
• 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.
• Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
• Freestanding emergency-care facility: means an establishment, place, or facility that may be a public or private organization, structurally distinct and separate from a hospital; staffed, equipped, and operated to provide prompt, emergency medical care. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-17-2
• Health care facility: means a hospital or a nursing facility. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-17-59
• Healthcare facility: means any institutional health-service provider, facility, or institution, place, building, agency, or portion thereof, whether a partnership or corporation, whether public or private, whether organized for profit or not, used, operated, or engaged in providing healthcare services, including, but not limited to: hospitals; nursing facilities; home nursing-care provider (which shall include skilled nursing services and may also include activities allowed as a home-care provider or as a nursing service agency); home-care provider (which may include services such as personal care or homemaker services); rehabilitation centers; kidney disease treatment centers; health maintenance organizations; freestanding emergency-care facilities as defined in this section, and facilities providing surgical treatment to patients not requiring hospitalization (surgi-centers); hospice care, and physician ambulatory-surgery centers and podiatry ambulatory-surgery centers providing surgical treatment. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-17-2
• Hospital: means a person or governmental entity licensed in accordance with this chapter to establish, maintain, and operate a hospital. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-17-2
• 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
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
• 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}
• Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
• Licensing agency: means the Rhode Island state department of health. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-17-2
• Lift team: means health care facility employees specially trained to perform patient lifts, transfers, and repositioning in accordance with safe patient handling policy. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-17-59
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• Medical services: means any professional services and supplies rendered by, or under the direction of, persons duly licensed under the laws of this state to practice medicine, surgery, or podiatry that may be specified by any medical service plan. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-17-2
• Mobile health-screening vehicle: means a mobile vehicle, van, or trailer that delivers primary and preventive healthcare screening services, and:

  (i)  Does not maintain active contracts or arrangements with any health insurer subject to regulation under chapter 20 or 42 of title 27;

  (ii)  Does not maintain active contracts or arrangements with another licensed healthcare facility as that term is defined within this section; and

  (iii)  Does not provide medical services free of charge. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-17-2

• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• Musculoskeletal disorders: means conditions that involve the nerves, tendons, muscles, and supporting structures of the body. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-17-59
• Nolo contendere: No contest-has the same effect as a plea of guilty, as far as the criminal sentence is concerned, but may not be considered as an admission of guilt for any other purpose.
• 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.
• Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
• 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 23-17-2
• Physician ambulatory-surgery center: means an office, or portion of an office, that is utilized for the purpose of furnishing surgical services to the owner and/or operator's own patients on an ambulatory basis, and shall include both single-practice, physician ambulatory-surgery centers and multi-practice, physician ambulatory-surgery centers. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-17-2
• Plea: In a criminal case, the defendant's statement pleading "guilty" or "not guilty" in answer to the charges, a declaration made in open court.
• Podiatry ambulatory-surgery center: means an office or portion of an office that is utilized for the purpose of furnishing surgical services to the owner and/or operator's own patients on an ambulatory basis, and shall include both single-practice, podiatry ambulatory-surgery centers and multi-practice podiatry ambulatory-surgery centers. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-17-2
• Power of attorney: A written instrument which authorizes one person to act as another's agent or attorney. The power of attorney may be for a definite, specific act, or it may be general in nature. The terms of the written power of attorney may specify when it will expire. If not, the power of attorney usually expires when the person granting it dies. ^{Source: OCC}
• Precedent: A court decision in an earlier case with facts and law similar to a dispute currently before a court. Precedent will ordinarily govern the decision of a later similar case, unless a party can show that it was wrongly decided or that it differed in some significant way.
• Probation: A sentencing alternative to imprisonment in which the court releases convicted defendants under supervision as long as certain conditions are observed.
• Qualified interpreter: means a person who, through experience and/or training, is able to translate a particular foreign language into English, with the exception of sign-language interpreters who must be licensed in accordance with chapter 71 of Title 5. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-17-2
• Qualified sign-language interpreter: means one who has been licensed in accordance with the provisions of chapter 71 of Title 5. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-17-2
• Remainder: An interest in property that takes effect in the future at a specified time or after the occurrence of some event, such as the death of a life tenant.
• Safe patient handling: means the use of engineering controls, transfer aids, or assistive devices whenever feasible and appropriate instead of manual lifting to perform the acts of lifting, transferring, and/or repositioning health care patients and residents. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-17-59
• Safe patient handling policy: means protocols established to implement safe patient handling. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-17-59
• School-based health center: means a facility located in an elementary or secondary school licensed as a school-based health center that delivers primary and/or preventive healthcare services to individuals to include, but not be limited to, students on site. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-17-2
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• Transcript: A written, word-for-word record of what was said, either in a proceeding such as a trial or during some other conversation, as in a transcript of a hearing or oral deposition.