In this subchapter:

1. (1) “Clinical nurse specialist” means a registered nurse who is currently certified as a clinical nurse specialist by a national certifying body that is recognized by the state board of nursing.
2. (2) “Network hospital” means a full-time hospital that has an agreement with a critical access hospital to provide ongoing acute care services for patients transferred or referred from the critical access hospital.
3. (3) “Nurse practitioner” means a registered nurse who is currently certified as a nurse practitioner by a national certifying body that is recognized by the state board of nursing.
4. (4) “Rural health plan” means a plan approved by the federal centers for medicare and medicaid services that describes how the department will implement and administer parts of the federal medicare rural hospital flexibility program — critical access hospitals — under 42 USC 1395i-4.

5. (5) “Rural hospital” means a hospital that was initially approved as a hospital prior to January 1, 2003 and is located in a county that has at least a portion of a rural census tract of a Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) as determined under the most recent version of the Goldsmith Modification as provided in 42 CFR 412.103(a)(1).

   Note: The most recent version of the Goldsmith Modification as determined by the Office of Rural Health Policy (ORHP) of the Health Resources and Services Administration is available via the ORHP website at http://www.raconline.org/topics/what-is-rural/faqs/#goldsmith or from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration, Office of Rural Health Policy, 5600 Fishers Lane, Room 9A-55, Rockville, MD 20857. 42 CFR 412.103 of the federal regulations addresses hospitals located in urban areas that want to apply for reclassification as rural hospitals.

History

History: Emerg. cr. eff. 9-12-98; cr. Register, January, 1999, No. 517, eff. 2-1-99; emerg. cr. (5), eff. 3-21-03; CR 03-042: am. (4), cr. (5) Register September 2003 No. 573, eff. 10-1-03; CR 19-135: r. and recr. (2) Register June 2020 No. 774, eff. 7-1-20.