§ 1902 - Definitions - Vermont Statutes

§ 1902. Definitions

The following words and phrases, as used in this chapter, shall have the following meanings unless otherwise provided:

(1) "Hospital" means a place devoted primarily to the maintenance and operation of diagnostic and therapeutic facilities for in-patient medical or surgical care of individuals suffering from illness, disease, injury or deformity, or for obstetrics.

(A) "General hospital" is a hospital of which not more than 50 percent of the total patient days during the year are customarily assignable to the following categories of cases: chronic, convalescent and rest, drug and alcoholic, epileptic, mentally deficient, mental, nervous and mental, and tuberculosis, and which provides adequate and separate facilities and equipment for the performance of surgery and obstetrics, or either, and for diagnostic X-ray and laboratory services.

(B) "Mental hospital" means a hospital for the diagnosis and treatment of mental illness.

(C) "Tuberculosis facility" means a hospital (excluding preventoria), or the separate tuberculosis unit of a general, mental or chronic disease hospital for the diagnosis and treatment of tuberculosis.

(D) "Chronic disease facility" means a hospital, or the separate chronic disease unit of a general hospital, for the treatment of chronic illness, including the degenerative diseases. The term does not include facilities primarily for the care of mentally ill or tuberculosis patients, nursing homes and institutions the primary purpose of which is domiciliary care.

(E) "Maternity hospital" means a hospital which receives maternity patients exclusively, for care during pregnancy, during delivery, or within ten days after delivery.

(F) "Nonprofit hospital" means any hospital owned and operated by a corporation or association, no part of the net earnings of which is applied, or may lawfully be applied, to the benefit of any private shareholder or individual.

(G) "Proprietary hospital" means any hospital operated for individual gain or reward.

(H) "Psychiatric facility" means a type of mental hospital, or separate unit of a general hospital, where patients may obtain diagnostic services and receive intensive treatment for mental and nervous illness and where only a minimum of continued treatment facilities will be afforded.

(I) The provisions of this subdivision (1) do not apply to any of the following institutions:

(i) Nursing and convalescent homes, boarding homes, homes for the aged, nurseries, and institutions used primarily for domiciliary care;

(ii) Any hospital conducted, maintained, or operated by the United States government or a duly authorized agency thereof. The commissioner of health may develop interim licensing criteria specific to the Vermont state hospital that shall be applicable until the hospital achieves recertification by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services or until January 31, 2005, whichever occurs first.

(2) "Person" means any individual, firm, partnership, corporation, company, association, or joint stock association, and the legal successor thereof.

(3) "Governmental unit" means a state, or political subdivision thereof, or any department, division, board, or other agency of any of the foregoing.

(4) "Licensing agency" means the state board of health. (Amended 1959, No. 329 (Adj. Sess.), § 27, eff. March 1, 1961; 1963, No. 154, § 2; 2003, No. 122 (Adj. Sess.), § 141d.)