Relating to the licensure of ambulatory surgical centers, providing for fees to be considered repayment receipts, and providing penalties

This bill creates a new Code chapter to provide for the licensing and regulation of ambulatory surgical centers. The bill defines “ambulatory surgical center” as a distinct facility that operates exclusively for the purpose of providing surgical services to patients not requiring hospitalization and in which the expected duration of services does not exceed hours following an admission. “Ambulatory surgical center” does not include individual or group practice offices of private physicians or podiatrists that do not contain a distinct area used for outpatient surgical treatment on a regular basis, or that only provide surgery routinely provided in a physician’s or podiatrist’s office using local anesthesia or conscious sedation; individual or group practice offices of dentists; or a portion of a licensed hospital designated for outpatient surgical treatment. The department of inspections and appeals (DIA) is designated to enforce the Code chapter. The bill prohibits the establishment, operation, or maintenance of an ambulatory surgical center in the state without obtaining a license. The bill provides for the application for licensure, the issuance and renewal of a license, and the denial, suspension, or revocation of a license, and the associated processes, and for the imposition and payment of associated fees. The bill directs DIA to adopt rules with the advice and approval of the state board of health to specify the standards for ambulatory surgical centers. The rules and standards are required to be consistent with the requirements of the Code chapter and the conditions for coverage in the federal Medicare program for ambulatory surgical centers. DIA is also directed to adopt rules relating to the issuance, renewal, denial, suspension, and revocation of a license to establish, operate, and maintain an ambulatory surgical center. If an ambulatory surgical center is in operation at the time of adoption of any applicable rules or standards, the center is to be given a reasonable time, not to exceed one year from the date of adoption, within which to comply with such rules and standards. The bill provides for inspections or investigations of ambulatory surgical centers, and directs that the DIA shall perform inspections on a schedule that is of the same frequency required for inspections of Medicare-certified ambulatory surgical centers. The bill also requires the DIA to recognize, in lieu of its own licensure inspection, the comparable inspection and inspection findings of a Medicare conditions for coverage survey completed by the department or a specified national accreditation agency. The bill prohibits a DIA inspector from participating in an inspection or investigation of an ambulatory surgical center in which the inspector or a member of the inspector’s immediate family works or has worked within the last two years or in which the inspector or the inspector’s immediate family has a financial ownership interest. The bill provides confidentiality provisions relating to ambulatory surgical center information. The final findings with respect to compliance by an ambulatory surgical center are to be made available to the public in a readily available form and place. Other information relating to an ambulatory surgical center shall not be made available to the public, except in proceedings involving the denial, suspension, or revocation of a license. The name of a person who files a complaint with the DIA is required to remain confidential and not be subject to discovery, subpoena, or other means of legal compulsion. The bill provides for injunctive relief and judicial review. The bill provides that any person establishing, operating, or maintaining an ambulatory surgical center without a license commits a serious misdemeanor, and each day of continuing violation after conviction shall be considered a separate offense. A serious misdemeanor is punishable by confinement for no more than one year and a fine of at least $315 but not more than $1,875. The bill makes conforming changes in the Code to reflect the terminology of “ambulatory surgical center”.