59A-3.065. Definitions

In addition to definitions contained in Chapters 395 and 408, Part II, F.S., the following definitions shall apply specifically to hospitals, as used in Rules 59A-3.065-.303, F.A.C.:

(1) “Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioner” or “ARNP” means a person licensed in the State of Florida under the provisions of Chapter 464, F.S. to practice professional nursing and certified in advanced or specialized nursing practice.

(2) “Agency” means the Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA).

(3) “Ambulatory care” means the delivery of care pertaining to non-emergency, adult, adolescent, and pediatric outpatient encounters, whether performed through the clinical departments of the hospital or an organized ambulatory program which is included as a component of the licensed hospital, regardless of the physical location of such services.

(4) “At or near the Time of Death” means that point in time in the care of the patient at which the procedures have begun for the determination and certification of brain death as defined under the provisions of Section 382.009, F.S., or cardiorespiratory (cardiac) death as defined under the provisions of Rule 59A-3.065, F.A.C.

(5) “Brain Death” means the determination of death under provisions of Section 382.009, F.S., where there is irreversible cessation of the functioning of the entire brain, including the brain stem.

(6) “Cardiorespiratory Death” means the cessation of life which is manifested by the loss or absence of spontaneous heart beat and breathing.

(7) “Child abuse or neglect” means harm, pursuant to Section 39.01(32), F.S., or threatened harm to a child’s physical or mental health or welfare by the acts or omissions of a parent, adult household member, or other person responsible for the child’s welfare, or, for purposes of reporting requirements, by any person.

(8) “Continuous” means available at all times without cessation, breaks or interruption.

(9) “Dentist” means a doctor of dentistry legally authorized to practice under Chapter 466, F.S.

(10) “Designee or Requester” means a person or organization identified, designated, and delegated by the hospital administrator to carry out the provisions of this chapter and the responsibilities mandated by Section 765.522, F.S., and to make the request to the patient or next of kin for the donation of organs, tissues and eyes.

(11) “Diagnostic imaging” means those ionizing and non-ionizing radiological procedures, including but not limited to x-rays, and computerized tomographic scanning, requiring the supervision and expertise of a physician with appropriate training or experience.

(12) “District Medical Examiner” means a physician who fills a position defined according to the provisions of Section 406.06, F.S.

(13) “Donation” means the free and voluntary gift of one or more organs, tissues or eyes for the purpose of medical research or transplant surgery.

(14) “Donor” means a person from whom organs, tissues or eyes have been surgically removed for the purpose of transplantation.

(15) “Emergency Medical Technician (EMT)” means any person who is certified as an EMT pursuant to Chapter 401, F.S.

(16) “Eye bank” means a public or private entity which is involved in the retrieval, processing or distribution of human eye tissue for transplantation and certified pursuant to Section 765.541, F.S. Funeral homes or direct disposers engaged solely in the retrieval of eye tissue are not considered an eye bank for these purposes.

(17) “Facilities” means those objects, including physical plant, equipment and supplies, necessary for providing required services.

(18) “General hospital” as defined in Section 395.002(10), F.S., means any facility which meets the provisions of subsection (29) and which regularly makes its facilities and services available to the general population.

(19) “Governing body” means the individual, agency, group or corporation appointed, elected, or otherwise designated, in which the ultimate responsibility and authority for the conduct of the hospital is vested.

(20) “Health professional” means a person specifically licensed to practice a health profession, or a person specifically trained to practice one or more aspects of a health profession by a school or program officially recognized by this State or accredited by a national accrediting organization.

(21) “Inpatient beds” means accommodations with supporting services for patients who are admitted by physician order with the expectation that the patient would stay in excess of 24 hours and occupy a bed.

(22) “Intensive residential treatment programs for children and adolescents” or “intensive residential treatment facilities” or “IRTF” means a specialty hospital restricted to providing intensive residential treatment programs for children and adolescents as defined in Section 395.002(15), F.S.

(23) “Licensed practical nurse” means one who is currently licensed in the state of Florida to practice practical nursing as defined in Chapter 464, F.S.

(24) “Long term care hospital” means a general hospital which:

(a) Meets the provisions of Section 395.002(12), F.S.;

(b) Has an average length of inpatient stay greater than 25 days for all hospital beds; and,

(c) Meets the provisions of subsection 59C-1.002(28), F.A.C.

(25) “Medical Examiner’s Case” means any death occurring in the State and which is defined according to the provisions of Section 406.11, F.S.

(26) “Nursing services” means those services pertaining to the curative, restorative, and preventive aspects of nursing care that are performed or supervised by a registered professional nurse under the direction of a physician.

(27) “On duty” means personnel within the hospital, appropriately dressed, continuously alert and responsive to patient needs.

(28) “Operating room suite” means a room, or set of physically contiguous rooms located on the same floor, used primarily for the purpose of performing operations and other physically invasive procedures on patients, as well as rooms for surgical supply and disinfecting.

(29) “Organ” means a body part such as a heart, kidney, pancreas, liver, or lung that requires vascular reanastomosis.

(30) “Organ Procurement Organization” means a public or private entity designated as an OPO by the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) which is engaged in the process of recovering organs for the purposes of transplantation and certified pursuant to Section 765.541, F.S.

(31) “Organized medical staff” means a formal organization of physicians and other health professionals approved by the governing body with the delegated responsibility to provide for the quality of all medical care, and other health care as appropriate, provided to patients, for planning for the improvement of that care, and for the ethical conduct and professional practices of its members. Nothing herein shall be construed to preclude a governing body from restricting membership on the organized medical staff to only those disciplines required to be included by Florida law.

(32) “Paramedic” means any person who is certified as a paramedic pursuant to Chapter 401, F.S.

(33) “Pharmacist” means one who is licensed under Chapter 465, F.S., and engages in the practice of the profession of pharmacy.

(34) “Physician” means a doctor of medicine or osteopathy legally authorized to practice under the provisions of Chapter 458 or 459, F.S.

(35) “Physician Assistant” or “PA” means a person who is licensed to perform medical services delegated by the supervising physician pursuant to Chapter 458 or 459, F.S.

(36) “Podiatrist” means a person legally authorized to practice podiatry under Chapter 461, F.S.

(37) “Potential Donor” means any person approaching death or who has died in a Florida hospital and is deemed medically acceptable according to the medical standards of the affiliated OPO, tissue bank or eye bank for organ, tissue, or eye donation.

(38) “Premises” means those buildings, beds, and facilities located at the main address of the licensee and all other buildings, beds, and facilities for the provision of hospital care located in such reasonable proximity to the main address of the licensee as to appear to the public to be under the dominion and control of the licensee.

(39) “Provisional accreditation” means a determination by a hospital accrediting organization that substantial standards compliance deficiencies exist in a hospital.

(40) “Provisional license” means a restricted license issued to a hospital which does not meet requirements for a standard license, but is in compliance with the pertinent statutes and rules.

(41) “Psychiatric hospital” means a Class III specialty hospital primarily restricted to treating persons whose sole diagnosis, or in the event of more than one diagnosis, the principal diagnosis, as defined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders is a psychiatric disorder, as defined in Rule 59C-1.040, F.A.C.

(42) “Qualified medical person” means for the purposes of Section 395.1041, F.S., the licensed individual responsible for the operation of the emergency services area during the time of a transfer.

(43) “Quality improvement program” means a program of ongoing activities designed to objectively and systematically evaluate the quality of patient care and services, pursue opportunities to improve patient care and services, and resolve identified problems which applies standards of patient care to evaluate the quality of the hospital’s performance.

(44) “Registered dietitian” means one who meets the standards and qualifications established by the Commission on Dietetic Registration of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and is currently registered with the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.

(45) “Registered professional nurse” means one who is currently licensed in the State of Florida to practice professional nursing as defined in Chapter 464, F.S.

(46) “Rehabilitation hospital” means a Class III specialty hospital in which an organized program of integrated intensive care services is provided by a coordinated multidisciplinary team to patients with severe physical disabilities, as defined under paragraph 59C-1.039(2)(c), F.A.C.

(47) “Routine Inquiry Form” means a reporting document developed by the hospital that is used to indicate that a request for donation of organs, tissues, or eyes was made.

(48) “Rural hospital” means a general hospital which meets the definition of Section 395.602(2)(e), F.S.

(49) “Selected Infectious Diseases” means Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome; anthrax; syphilis in an infectious stage; diphtheria; disseminated vaccinia; Hansen’s disease; hepatitis A; hepatitis B; hepatitis non-A, non-B; Legionnaire’s disease; malaria; measles; meningococcal meningitis; plague; poliomyelitis; psittacosis; pulmonary tuberculosis; Q fever; rabies; rubella; typhoid fever.

(50) “Special care unit” means a unit designated to provide acute care services, with a concentration of qualified professional staffing and supportive resources, to patients requiring extraordinary care on a concentrated and continuous 24-hour basis. Special care units include, but are not limited to burn, cardiac, cardiovascular surgery, neonatal, respiratory, renal care provided in the hospital, but not including ambulatory units, spinal injury units, trauma and multipurpose special care units, operating room suite, including medical-surgical intensive care or any combination of the above.

(51) “Substance abuse hospital” means a Class III specialty hospital primarily restricted to treating persons whose sole diagnosis, or in the event of more than one diagnosis, the principal diagnosis, as defined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders is a substance abuse disorder defined under paragraph 59C-1.041(2)(u), F.A.C.

(52) “Tissue” means any non-visceral or non-vascularized collection of similar cells and their associated intercellular substances. There are four generally accepted basic body tissues:

(a) Epithelium (including corneal tissue);

(b) Connective tissues including blood, bone and cartilage;

(c) Muscle; and

(d) Nerve tissue.

(53) “Tissue Bank” means a public or private entity certified pursuant to Section 765.541, F.S., which is involved in at least one of the following activities:

(a) Procuring, processing, storing or distributing viable or nonviable human tissues to clinicians who are not involved in the procurement process;

(b) Procuring, processing, and storing human tissues in one institution and making these tissues available to clinicians in other institutions; or

(c) Procuring, processing, and storing human tissues for individual depositors and releasing these tissues to clinicians at the depositor’s request.

(54) “Transplantation” means the surgical grafting or implanting in its entirety or in part one or more tissues or organs taken from another person.

Rulemaking Authority 395.1055 FS. Law Implemented 395.1023, 395.1055 FS. History–New 9-4-95, Formerly 59A-3.201, Amended 10-16-14.