As used in this chapter:

1. (1) "Board" means any of the boards created pursuant to Title 40, as amended, to license, certify, or register health care professionals.
2. (2) "Comprehensive rehabilitation services" means services that are provided by health care professionals licensed under Chapter 36, Chapter 45, or Chapter 67 of Title 40 to provide speech, occupational, or physical therapy services on an outpatient or ambulatory basis.
3. (3) "Department" means the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control.
4. (4) "Designated health services" means any health care procedure, service, or item provided by a health care provider.
5. (5) "Entity" means an individual, partnership, firm, corporation, or other business entity.
6. (6) "Fair market value" means value in arms length transactions, consistent with the general market value, and, with respect to rentals or leases, the value of rental property for general commercial purposes, not taking into account its intended use, and in the case of a lease of space, not adjusted to reflect the additional value the prospective lessee or lessor would attribute to the proximity or convenience to the lessor where the lessor is a potential source of patient referrals to the lessee.
7. (7) "Health care facility" means a health care facility as defined in Section 44-7-130(10).
8. (8) "Health care provider", "provider", or "health care professional" means a person licensed, certified, or registered under the laws of this State to provide health care services.
9. (9) "Immediate family member" means a health care provider's spouse, child, child's spouse, grandchild, grandchild's spouse, parent, parent-in-law, or sibling.

10. (10) "Investment interest" means an equity or debt security issued by an entity including, except as provided below, but not limited to, shares of stock in a corporation, units or other interests in a partnership, bonds, debentures, notes, other equity interests, or debt instruments. The following investment interests are excepted from this definition:

    1. (a) an investment interest in an entity that is the sole provider of designated health services in a rural area;
    2. (b) an investment interest in real property resulting in a landlord-tenant relationship between the health care provider and the entity in which the equity interest is held, unless the rent is determined, in whole or in part, by the business volume or profitability of the tenant or exceeds fair market value;
    3. (c) an investment interest in an entity which owns or leases and operates a hospital or a nursing home facility licensed under Title 44, Chapter 7;
    4. (d) an investment interest acquired before June 15, 1993;
    5. (e) an investment interest in an entity which provides health care services pursuant to a health services network.
11. (11) "Investor" means a person or entity owning a legal or beneficial ownership or investment interest, directly or indirectly including, but not limited to, through an immediate family member, trust, or corporation, the stock of which is owned in whole or in part by the investor or another entity related to the investor.

12. (12) "Referral" means a referral of a patient by a health care provider for health care services including, but not limited to:

    1. (a) the forwarding of a patient by a health care provider to another health care provider or to an entity outside the health care professional's office or group practice which provides or supplies designated health services or any other health care item or service; or
    2. (b) the request or establishment of a plan of care by a health care provider, which includes the provision of a designated health service or any other health care item or service outside the health care professional's office or group practice.
13. (13) "Rural area" means a county with a population of one hundred thousand persons or less according to the latest United States census.

14. (14) "Group practice" means a group of two or more health care professionals legally organized as a partnership, professional corporation, not-for-profit corporation, faculty practice plan, or similar association in which:

    1. (a) each health care professional who is a member, employee, or independent contractor of the group provides substantially the full range of services which the professional routinely provides including consultation, diagnosis, and treatment through the use of office space, facilities, equipment, and personnel of the group;
    2. (b) substantially all of the services of the health care professionals who are members of the group are provided through the group and are billed in the name of the group and amounts so received are treated as receipts of the group; and
    3. (c) the overhead expenses of and the income from the practice are distributed by methods previously determined by the group.
15. (15) "Office practice" means the facility or facilities at which a health care professional, on an ongoing basis, provides or supervises the provision of health services to individuals.