(a) The purpose of this part is to ensure an accurate and continuing source of data concerning cancer and to provide appropriate data to members of the medical, scientific, and academic research communities for purposes of authorized institutional research, approved by the appropriate research committee of the applying institution, into the causes, types and demography of cancer, including, but not limited to, the occupation, family history, and personal habits of persons diagnosed with cancer.
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Terms Used In Tennessee Code 68-1-1003

  • 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.
  • Cancer: means and includes, but is not limited to:
    (A) A large group of diseases characterized by uncontrolled growth and spread of abnormal cells. See Tennessee Code 68-1-1002
  • Commissioner: means the commissioner of health. See Tennessee Code 68-1-1002
  • Department: means the department of health. See Tennessee Code 68-1-1002
  • Facility: means a health care facility in which diagnosis or treatment services are provided to patients with cancer, including, but not limited to, an ambulatory surgical treatment center (ASTC), a freestanding cancer treatment center, a radiation therapy center, a chemotherapy treatment center, a nursing home, an oncology or dermatology clinic, a laboratory, or any other facility that provides screening, detection, diagnostic or therapeutic services to patients with cancer. See Tennessee Code 68-1-1002
  • Health care practitioner: means a physician, surgeon, or other health care professional licensed under title 63 who is engaged in diagnosing and treating patients who have cancer. See Tennessee Code 68-1-1002
  • Hospital: means an institution as defined by §. See Tennessee Code 68-1-1002
  • Laboratory: means a facility where tests are performed identifying anatomical and cytological changes, and where specimens are interpreted and pathological diagnoses are made. See Tennessee Code 68-1-1002
  • Representative: when applied to those who represent a decedent, includes executors and administrators, unless the context implies heirs and distributees. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
(b) In order to accomplish the purpose described in (a), all hospitals, laboratories, facilities, and health care practitioners shall report to the department, within six (6) months after the date of diagnosis of cancer in a patient, information contained in the medical records of patients who have cancer; provided, that health care practitioners are not required to report information on patients with cancer who are directly referred to or have been previously admitted to a hospital or a facility for cancer diagnosis or treatment.
(c) The reports required by this section shall be made in the format and shall contain the information required by the department. The department shall make available the necessary information regarding format and data to enable hospitals, laboratories, facilities, and health care practitioners to make accurate reports to the department.
(d) The commissioner or the commissioner’s authorized representative may take the steps necessary to avoid duplicate reporting of information on the same patients, including, but not limited to, waiving the requirement for a health care practitioner to report information on cancer patients who are hospitalized or confined to a nursing home, where information on those patients has been reported by the hospital, nursing home, or other reporting source.
(e) The commissioner or the commissioner’s authorized representative shall be permitted to have access to the medical records of cancer patients that are maintained by hospitals, laboratories, facilities, and health care practitioners where necessary, to identify cases of cancer and to establish the characteristics of the cancer, the treatment of the cancer, or the medical status of an identified cancer patient.
(f) If a hospital, laboratory, facility, or health care practitioner fails to report the required information to the department in an acceptable format by the required deadline, the commissioner or the commissioner’s authorized representative may obtain the information by a direct examination of those patients’ medical records. In those cases, the hospital, laboratory, facility, or health care practitioner shall reimburse the department for the department’s reasonable expenses incurred in obtaining the information in this manner. The commissioner shall establish, by rule, the maximum amount of reimbursement that may be sought. A hospital, laboratory, facility, or health care practitioner from whom reimbursement is sought may appeal the assessment of expenses under the Uniform Administrative Procedures Act, compiled in title 4, chapter 5.
(g) A hospital, laboratory, facility, or health care practitioner that fails to report information or allow access to records, as required by this section, shall be informed by the department that compliance with the requirements of this part is mandatory.
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