§ 22-21-33 — Penalties for Operation of or Referring Persons to Unlicensed Hospital

(a)(1) Any individual, association, corporation, partnership, limited liability company, or other business entity who operates or causes to be operated a hospital of any kind as defined in this article or any rules promulgated hereunder, without having been granted a license by the State Board of Health shall be guilty of a Class B misdemeanor upon conviction, except that any individual, association, corporation, partnership, limited liability company, or other business entity who operates or causes to be operated a hospital of any kind as defined in this article or any rules promulgated hereunder without having been granted a license by the State Board of Health shall be guilty of a Class A misdemeanor upon conviction of a second or any subsequent offense.
(2) The State Board of Health, upon determination that a facility or business is operating as a hospital, within the meaning of this article or any rules promulgated hereunder, and that the facility or business does not have a current and valid license granted by the State Board of Health, may apply to the circuit court of the county in which the unlicensed facility or business is located for declaratory and injunctive relief. The proceedings shall be expedited. The sole evidentiary questions before the court in a proceeding shall be whether the facility or business that is the subject of the action meets the definition of a hospital, within the meaning of this article and any rules promulgated hereunder, and whether the facility or business has been granted a current and valid license to operate by the State Board of Health. If the State Board of Health prevails on these questions, then the court, upon request of the State Board of Health, shall grant declaratory and injunctive relief requiring the operator or operators to close the facility or business and requiring the operator or operators to move all residents or patients to appropriate placements. Any individual failing to obey an injunction to close a hospital shall be guilty of a Class A misdemeanor. Any individual, after having once been subject to such an injunction, who shall later operate or cause to be operated a hospital, as defined in this article or any rules promulgated hereunder, without having been granted a license therefor by the State Board of Health shall be guilty of a Class A misdemeanor.
(3) The State Board of Health, upon the advice of the Attorney General, may maintain an action in the name of the state for an injunction to restrain any state, county, or local governmental unit, or any division, department, board, or agency thereof, or any individual, association, corporation, partnership, limited liability company, or other business entity, from operating, conducting, or managing a hospital in violation of this article, or any rule promulgated hereunder. Evidence that a person who is a licensed health care professional is or has been operating an unlicensed hospital or knowingly is or has been an employee of an unlicensed hospital shall be grounds for license revocation by the applicable professional licensing board or boards.
(4) No county or municipality shall grant a business license to a hospital, as defined in this article, unless the facility holds a current license to operate granted by the State Board of Health.
(5) In any action to collect a fee for services brought against a resident or patient by a hospital, as defined in this article or rules promulgated hereunder, it shall be a defense to the action to demonstrate that the operator of the hospital did not have a current and valid license to operate pursuant to this article at the time the services in question were rendered.
(b)(1) A licensed inpatient hospital acting through an authorized agent of the licensed inpatient hospital shall not knowingly refer to an unlicensed hospital any person who is in need of care rendered by a licensed hospital. A licensed hospice or certified home health agency acting through an authorized agent of the licensed hospice or certified home health agency shall not knowingly provide treatment or services in an unlicensed hospital to a person who is in need of care rendered by a licensed hospital.
(2) The Department of Public Health shall maintain, in electronic format and available on the Internet, a current directory of all licensed hospitals. The directory shall be maintained in a searchable database so that the licensure status of all licensed hospitals may be determined for the preceding four years and the then current year.
The Department, upon written request from a licensed inpatient hospital, shall provide to a designated representative of the hospital, a listing of any changes to the directory of all licensed hospitals through use of electronic communication, such as email, on a weekly basis.
(3) A determination of actual knowledge that a facility or business was unlicensed shall be supported by evidence that the unlicensed hospital was not listed in the directory maintained by the department on the day the referral or the admission was made or treatment was provided. In any action to levy a fine or revoke a license under this section, it shall be a defense to the action to demonstrate that the unlicensed inpatient hospital appeared in the directory as a licensed inpatient hospital on the day the referral or admission was made or the treatment was provided.
(4) Any licensed inpatient hospital acting through an authorized agent of the licensed inpatient hospital that knowingly makes a referral to an unlicensed hospital of a person in need of care rendered by a licensed hospital, or any licensed hospice or any certified home health agency acting through an authorized agent of the licensed hospice or certified home health agency that knowingly provides treatment in an unlicensed hospital to a person in need of care rendered by a licensed hospital, may be subject to a civil penalty imposed by the Board of Health not to exceed one thousand five hundred dollars ($1,500) per instance.
(5) All civil monetary penalties collected pursuant to this section or Section 22-21-34 shall be paid to the Department of Human Resources and held in a dedicated fund for the sole purpose of making grants or disbursements to assist protected persons, as this term is defined in Section 38-9-2, with appropriate placement or relocation from an unlicensed facility into a licensed facility or relocation from a facility undergoing license termination, suspension, or revocation, pursuant to Section 22-21-25, to an appropriate setting. The Department of Human Resources is hereby authorized to make grants or disbursements from this fund to protected persons or to individuals or public or private organizations acting on behalf of a protected person.
(c)(1) For the purposes of this section, the term “licensed inpatient hospital” shall mean a licensed acute care hospital, long-term acute care hospital, rehabilitation hospital, inpatient hospice, skilled nursing facility, intermediate care facility, assisted living facility, or specialized care assisted living facility.
(2) For the purposes of this section, the term “knowingly” shall mean actual knowledge by a licensed inpatient hospital, licensed hospice, or certified home health agency acting through an authorized agent making a referral or providing services, that the unlicensed hospital to which the referral is made or services rendered is unlicensed within the meaning of this section.

Legislative History

(Acts 1949, No. 530, p. 835, §12; Act 2001-1058, 4th Sp. Sess., p. 1044, §1; Act 2008-389, p. 732, §1; Act 2017-280, §1.)