(1) The department may contract for reviews of such hospitals and health care facilities to determine compliance with required standards as part of the process to designate and renew the designation of hospitals and health care facilities as advanced, basic, comprehensive, or general level trauma centers. The applicant shall submit to the department documentation of current verification or accreditation as part of the process to designate a health care facility as a general, intermediate, or advanced level rehabilitation center or a specialty level burn or pediatric trauma center.

Terms Used In Nebraska Statutes 71-8245

  • Action: shall include any proceeding in any court of this state. See Nebraska Statutes 49-801
  • Advanced level rehabilitation center: means a rehabilitation center which, in addition to the services provided at intermediate level and general level rehabilitation centers, provides services to patients with traumatic brain or spinal injuries, complicated amputations, and other diagnoses resulting in functional impairment in more than one functional area, with moderate to severe impairment or complexity, and serves as a referral facility for intermediate level and general level rehabilitative services. See Nebraska Statutes 71-8204
  • Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
  • Department: means the Division of Public Health of the Department of Health and Human Services. See Nebraska Statutes 71-8211
  • Designation: means a formal determination by the department that a hospital or health care facility is capable of providing designated trauma care or rehabilitative services as authorized in the Statewide Trauma System Act. See Nebraska Statutes 71-8214
  • Hospital: means a health care facility licensed under the Health Care Facility Licensure Act or a comparable health care facility operated by the federal government or located and licensed in another state. See Nebraska Statutes 71-8219
  • Process: shall mean a summons, subpoena, or notice to appear issued out of a court in the course of judicial proceedings. See Nebraska Statutes 49-801
  • Specialty level burn or pediatric trauma center: means a trauma center that provides specialized care in the areas of burns or pediatrics. See Nebraska Statutes 71-8230
  • State: when applied to different states of the United States shall be construed to extend to and include the District of Columbia and the several territories organized by Congress. See Nebraska Statutes 49-801
  • Trauma: means a single-system or multisystem injury requiring immediate medical or surgical intervention or treatment to prevent death or permanent disability. See Nebraska Statutes 71-8232

(2) Members of review teams and staff included in onsite visits shall not divulge and cannot be subpoenaed to divulge information obtained or reports written pursuant to this section in any civil action, except pursuant to a court order which provides for the protection of sensitive information of interested parties, including the department, in actions arising out of:

(a) The designation of a hospital or health care facility pursuant to section 71-8244 ;

(b) The revocation or suspension of a designation under such section; or

(c) The restriction or revocation of the clinical or staff privileges of a health care provider, subject to any further restrictions on disclosure that may apply.

(3) Information that identifies an individual patient shall not be publicly disclosed without the patient’s consent.

(4) The department may establish fees to defray the costs of carrying out onsite reviews required by this section, but such fees shall not be assessed to health care facilities designated as basic or general level trauma centers.

(5) This section does not restrict the authority of a hospital or a health care provider to provide services which it has been authorized to provide by state law.