2019 Regular Session ENROLLED
SENATE BILL NO. 36
BY SENATOR MILLS
Prefiled pursuant to Article III, Section 2(A)(4)(b)(i) of the Constitution of Louisiana.
1 AN ACT
2 To enact Subpart C of Part II of Chapter 11 of Title 40 of the Louisiana Revised Statues of
3 1950, to be comprised of R.S. 40:2115.31 through 2115.33, relative to emergency
4 departments; to provide for legislative intent; to provide for definitions; to provide
5 for a prohibition on freestanding emergency departments; to provide for licensure of
6 hospital off-campus emergency departments; to provide for geographical
7 prohibitions within rural hospital primary service areas; and to provide for related
8 matters.
9 Be it enacted by the Legislature of Louisiana:
10 Section 1. Subpart C of Part II of Chapter 11 of Title 40 of the Louisiana Revised
11 Statues of 1950, comprised of R.S. 40:2115.31 through 2115.33, is hereby enacted to read
12 as follows:
13 SUBPART C. EMERGENCY DEPARTMENTS
14 §2115.31. Legislative intent
15 A. The legislature finds and declares that in order to protect the health
16 and welfare of the public it is imperative to regulate and control entities that
17 hold themselves out to the public as providing emergency medical care.
18 B. The legislature further finds and declares that emergency medical
19 services should be provided in a licensed hospital.
20 C. The legislature finds and declares that rural hospitals are an essential
21 part of our state's healthcare delivery safety net and their sustainability
22 warrants protections from competing offsite emergency departments with no
23 inpatient hospital services encroaching into their primary service area.
24 §2115.32. Emergency department; definitions
25 For purposes of this Subpart, the following definitions shall apply:
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words in boldface type and underscored are additions. SB NO. 36 ENROLLED
1 (1) "Department" means the Louisiana Department of Health.
2 (2) "Emergency medical services" means those medical services
3 necessary to screen, evaluate, and stabilize an emergency medical condition of
4 recent onset and severity, including severe pain, that would lead a prudent
5 layperson, acting reasonably and possessing an average knowledge of health and
6 medicine, to believe that the absence of immediate medical attention could
7 reasonably be expected to result in placing the health of the individual in serious
8 jeopardy, serious impairment to bodily function, or serious dysfunction of any
9 bodily organ or part.
10 (3) "Freestanding emergency department" means a healthcare facility
11 that holds itself out to the public as providing emergency medical services and
12 is not licensed as part of the main campus of a hospital or as an off-site campus
13 of a hospital.
14 (4) "Healthcare facility" means a facility, including but not limited to a
15 hospital, or an office where a healthcare provider furnishes care to patients for
16 health needs or medical conditions.
17 (5) "Healthcare provider" means a person who is licensed, certified, or
18 otherwise authorized by the laws of this state to provide healthcare or medical
19 treatment in the ordinary course of business or practice of a profession.
20 (6) "Hospital" means an entity as defined in R.S. 40:2102(2).
21 (7) "Off-site campus" means all licensed premises where emergency,
22 inpatient, or outpatient hospital services are provided and that are not a part
23 of or adjoining to the main hospital building or grounds. For licensing purposes,
24 an off-site campus shall be located within thirty-five miles of the main hospital
25 campus.
26 (8) "Rural hospital" means an entity as defined in R.S. 40:1189.3(7) or,
27 for purposes of this Subpart, a hospital that is in a parish with a population of
28 greater than seventy thousand but less than ninety thousand as of the latest
29 federal decennial census.
30 §2115.33. Emergency department; licensure; prohibitions
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1 A. Each emergency department operating in Louisiana shall be licensed
2 by the department as a part of a hospital under the Hospital Licensing Law,
3 R.S. 40:2100, et seq., either as a part of the hospital's main campus or as a
4 separate off-site campus of an existing licensed hospital.
5 B. Freestanding emergency departments shall be prohibited in
6 Louisiana.
7 C. The department shall not issue a license to any off-site campus
8 emergency department within the primary service area of a rural hospital. For
9 purposes of this Section, "primary service area" for a rural hospital created or
10 ratified pursuant to laws providing for hospital service districts, R.S. 46:1051
11 et seq., shall be coterminous with the boundaries of its hospital service district.
12 For all other rural hospitals, the primary service area shall have the same
13 meaning as set forth in R.S. 37:1307(6). However, the prohibition in this
14 Subsection shall not apply to a nonprofit licensed hospital that complies with the
15 provisions of Subsection A of this Section and that has obtained a building or
16 construction permit for a new off-site campus or hospital prior to April 1, 2019.
PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF LOUISIANA
APPROVED:
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Coding: Words which are struck through are deletions from existing law;
words in boldface type and underscored are additions.