H 3957 Session 111 (1995-1996)
H 3957 General Bill, By Cato, Easterday, Fair, Haskins, M.F. Jaskwhich,
McMahand, Rice and Tripp
A Bill to amend Title 44, Chapter 7, Code of Laws of South Carolina, 1976,
relating to hospitals, by adding Article 12 so as to enact the South Carolina
Hospital Equal Access Act and to define terms, establish duties and procedures
for providing equal access to hospital services, and to create a cause of
action for treble damages for violations of this Article.
04/06/95 House Introduced and read first time HJ-36
04/06/95 House Referred to Committee on Medical, Military,
Public and Municipal Affairs HJ-36
A BILL
TO AMEND TITLE 44, CHAPTER 7, CODE OF LAWS OF
SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, RELATING TO HOSPITALS, BY
ADDING ARTICLE 12 SO AS TO ENACT THE SOUTH
CAROLINA HOSPITAL EQUAL ACCESS ACT AND TO
DEFINE TERMS, ESTABLISH DUTIES AND PROCEDURES
FOR PROVIDING EQUAL ACCESS TO HOSPITAL SERVICES,
AND TO CREATE A CAUSE OF ACTION FOR TREBLE
DAMAGES FOR VIOLATIONS OF THIS ARTICLE.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South
Carolina:
SECTION 1. Title 44, Chapter 7 of the 1976 Code is amended
by adding:
"Article 12
Hospital Equal Access
Section 44-7-1710. This article may be cited as the South
Carolina Hospital Equal Access Act.
Section 44-7-1720. As used in this article:
(1) `Affiliate' with respect to a person or entity means a person
or entity that directly or indirectly controls, is controlled by, or is
under common control of the person or entity, whether through the
ownership of voting securities by contract or otherwise.
(2) `Facility' means an entity or person that owns or controls,
whether through the ownership of voting securities, by contract, or
otherwise, directly or indirectly, one or more acute care hospitals.
(3) `Multiple hospital facility' means acute care hospitals owned
or controlled by a facility or one or more of the facility's affiliates
or by the facility and one or more of its affiliates that include a
regional center and one or more other acute care hospitals located
within a twenty-mile radius of the regional center.
(4) `Offered price' with respect to a regional service of a
multiple hospital facility is a price, other than a price mandated by
law in connection with Medicare, Medicaid, Champus, or another
similar state or federal governmental program, offered by the
multiple hospital facility or any of its affiliates under an
arrangement which allows a resident of the service radius within
which the regional service is provided to obtain that regional
service within that service radius.
(5) `Health care service' means a service that is provided by an
acute care hospital including, but not limited to, a service that is
identified separately under a generally applicable coding, listing, or
other classification or identification of medical services.
(6) `Regional center' means a general acute care hospital, other
than a state medical university hospital or a hospital owned by the
federal government, with legal authorization whether by license,
certificate of need, or otherwise for at least four hundred general
hospital beds.
(7) `Service radius' with respect to a multiple hospital facility
means a radius of twenty miles from the location of a regional
center owned or controlled by a multiple hospital facility or any of
its affiliates.
(8) `Regional service' means a health care service that is
provided at one or more locations within a service radius of a
multiple hospital facility only by one or more hospitals of the
multiple hospital facility or its affiliates when there is at least one
acute care hospital located in that service radius that is not
controlled directly or indirectly by that multiple hospital facility or
any of its affiliates.
Section 44-7-1730. (A) Except as provided for in subsection
(C), a multiple hospital facility that provides a regional service
within a service radius of that multiple hospital facility and any of
the affiliates of that multiple hospital facility that provides a
regional service within that service radius must allow any other
facility with an acute care hospital located within that service radius
to purchase the regional service provided within that service radius
at whatever offered prices with respect to that regional service as
the other facility may select from time to time. An offered price
must be made available to another facility without requiring that a
particular volume of services be purchased and, with respect to a
regional service, for as long as the respective offered price would
have been available with respect to that regional service under the
terms of any offer.
(B) Except as provided for in subsection (C), upon receipt of a
written request from another facility with an acute care hospital
located within a service radius of that multiple hospital facility a
multiple hospital facility shall provide in writing a complete,
detailed statement of all offered prices, in any form, currently
offered or offered in the future by the multiple hospital facility or
any of its affiliates regarding each regional service provided within
that service radius. The information requested must be delivered by
facsimile and a confirmation copy immediately must be sent by
mail or by hand to the person specified by the facility making the
request for information and:
(1) with respect to prices already offered at the time the
request for pricing information is received, must be delivered to the
requesting facility within ten days of the request; and
(2) with respect to prices offered after the request is made
and which have not already been provided to the requesting facility,
must be delivered simultaneously with the making of an offer of
that pricing.
(C) This section does not require the provision of prices
regarding a regional service or the sale of that regional service to a
facility if that facility itself actually provides that regional service at
any location within this State.
Section 44-7-1740. (A) If a multiple hospital facility or any of
its affiliates violates or threatens to violate the provisions of Section
44-7-1730, a facility that as a result of the actual or threatened
violation has failed or would fail to receive the benefits of Section
44-7-1730 may bring an action to recover damages or to obtain
injunctive relief or both. Whenever injunctive relief or a verdict for
damages or both are obtained in an action, the trial judge shall
award the facility which is entitled to the damages or injunctive
relief or both three times the actual damages plus the reasonable
attorney's fees and costs incurred by that facility in connection with
bringing the claim for damages or injunctive relief or both.
(B) An action under this section may be brought in the Court of
Common Pleas in the county in which the complaining facility
maintains an acute care hospital, has its principal place of business,
or conducts business.
(C) The courts are authorized to issue orders and injunctions to
restrain and prevent violations of this article, and these orders and
injunctions must be issued without bond."
SECTION 2. This act takes effect upon approval by the
Governor.
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