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Indicates Matter Stricken
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S. 1156
STATUS INFORMATION
General Bill
Sponsors: Senator O'Dell
Document Path: l:\council\bills\gjk\21166sd04.doc
Introduced in the Senate on April 14, 2004
Introduced in the House on May 4, 2004
Last Amended on May 26, 2004
Currently residing in the Senate
Summary: Immunization Registry Act
HISTORY OF LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS
Date Body Action Description with journal page number
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4/14/2004 Senate Introduced and read first time SJ-5
4/14/2004 Senate Referred to Committee on Medical Affairs SJ-5
4/28/2004 Senate Committee report: Favorable with amendment Medical
Affairs SJ-30
4/29/2004 Senate Amended SJ-38
4/29/2004 Senate Read second time SJ-38
4/29/2004 Senate Unanimous consent for third reading on next legislative
day SJ-38
4/30/2004 Senate Read third time and sent to House SJ-3
4/30/2004 Scrivener's error corrected
5/4/2004 House Introduced and read first time HJ-9
5/4/2004 House Referred to Committee on Medical, Military, Public and
Municipal Affairs HJ-10
5/19/2004 House Committee report: Favorable with amendment Medical,
Military, Public and Municipal Affairs HJ-6
5/20/2004 Scrivener's error corrected
5/25/2004 House Debate adjourned until Wednesday, May 26, 2004 HJ-40
5/26/2004 House Amended HJ-43
5/26/2004 House Read second time HJ-46
5/27/2004 House Read third time and returned to Senate with amendments
View the latest legislative information at the LPITS web site
VERSIONS OF THIS BILL
4/14/2004
4/28/2004
4/29/2004
4/30/2004
5/19/2004
5/20/2004
5/26/2004
Indicates Matter Stricken
Indicates New Matter
AMENDED
May 26, 2004
S. 1156
S. Printed 5/26/04--H.
Read the first time May 4, 2004.
TO AMEND TITLE 44, CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, RELATING TO HEALTH, BY ADDING CHAPTER 34 SO AS TO ENACT THE SOUTH CAROLINA IMMUNIZATION REGISTRY ACT WHICH PROVIDES FOR AN ELECTRONIC REPOSITORY OF VACCINATION RECORDS TO BE USED IN AIDING CHILDHOOD DISEASE PREVENTION AND CONTROL.
Amend Title To Conform
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:
SECTION 1. Title 44 of the 1976 Code is amended by adding:
Section 44-34-10. The Department of Health and Environmental Control shall establish and maintain an immunization registry to be used by public and private providers of immunization services. The purpose of the registry is to provide a single, electronic repository of complete and current vaccination records to be used in aiding, coordinating, and promoting effective and cost-efficient childhood disease prevention and control efforts. Registry data is confidential, and access to content is limited to those entities or individuals authorized by the department.
Section 44-34-20. A person who administers a vaccine or vaccines licensed by the United States Food and Drug Administration to a child under the age of nineteen shall provide for each vaccination to the department within fourteen days of administration, the data considered necessary by the department and appropriate for the purposes of the immunization registry.
Vaccination data reporting requirements, including without limitation the types of data required to be reported and the time and manner of reporting the data, shall be required after the registry has established linkages to vaccine providers and must follow immunization registry guidelines established by the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Section 44-34-30. The department shall utilize the registry to provide notices, whether by mail, telephone, personal contact, or other means, to parents or guardians regarding their children or wards who are due or overdue for a vaccination according to the recommended vaccination schedule.
Section 44-34-40. Vaccination reporting is required for children under the age of nineteen and reporting is encouraged for patients of all ages. Vaccination records for a person included within the immunization registry must be maintained in the registry in perpetuity.
Section 44-34-50. Individually identifiable vaccination information regarding a child may be provided to the department by or released by the department to a local health department, hospital, physician, or other provider of medical services to the child or to a school or child care facility in which the child is enrolled without the consent of the child's parents or guardians. All children under the age of nineteen must be enrolled in the registry. A parent or guardian may obtain, and upon request to the department or provider, must be provided with all individually identifiable vaccination registry information regarding his child or ward. Except as provided otherwise by this chapter, individually identifiable vaccination registry information must be treated as confidential and may not be released to a third party without consent of a child's parent or guardian.
Section 44-34-60. Nothing in this chapter may:
(1) prohibit the department from providing or publishing registry information in unidentified aggregate form for scientific educational, or public health purposes, provided that this information is published without releasing or identifying individual names contained in the registry;
(2) prohibit the department or a medical services provider from notifying a parent, guardian, or child of the child's vaccination status or of a vaccination that is due or overdue according to recommended vaccination schedules; or
(3) diminish a parent's or guardian's responsibility of having a child vaccinated properly.
Section 44-34-70. The registry is accessible to providers for public health purposes only.
Information contained in the immunization registry must be confidential and not subject to inspection by persons other than authorized personnel of the department. The department may disclose the immunizations administered to a child and the date of the administrations and may permit access to the information by a person authorized to administer an immunization, who is immunizing or treating the child or other person or agency concerned with the immunization of children authorized by the department when (i) the person or agency provides sufficient identifying information satisfactory to the department to identify the child and (ii) the disclosure is in the best interest of the child and family or will contribute to the protection of the public health.
The department is authorized and directed to promulgate those regulations as necessary and appropriate to implement the provisions of this chapter.
Section 44-34-80. (A) A person must not use the registry to obtain information necessary to apply for a birth certificate, locate an individual who is not a patient of their practice, health plan, or school, determine the market share of competitors, engage in any commercial purpose, or enroll persons in lawsuits.
(B) A person who violates subsection (A) must be denied further access to the registry and is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, may be fined not more than two hundred dollars or imprisoned for not more than thirty days."
SECTION 2. Section 40-47-10 of the 1976 Code is amended to read:
"Section 40-47-10. There is created the State Board of Medical Examiners to be composed of ten twelve members, one three of whom must be a lay member members, one of whom must be a doctor of osteopathy, two of whom must be physicians or surgeons from the State-at-large, and six of whom must be physicians or surgeons representing each of six congressional districts. All members of the board must be residents of this State, and each member representing a congressional district shall reside in the district the member represents. All physician members of the board must be licensed by the board and must be practicing their profession in South Carolina.
The members of the board shall serve for terms of four years or until their successors are appointed and qualify.
The members of the board are limited to two terms. All members of the board have full voting rights.
The One lay member and one physician or surgeon from the State-at-large must be appointed by the Governor, with the advice and consent of the Senate. The board shall conduct an election to nominate one physician or surgeon from the State-at-large. The election must provide for participation by all physicians or surgeons currently licensed and residing in South Carolina. To nominate the physicians or surgeons who will represent the six congressional districts the board shall conduct an election within each district. These elections must provide for participation by all licensed physicians residing in the particular district. The board shall conduct an election to nominate the doctor of osteopathy from the State-at-large, and this election must provide for participation by any physician currently licensed in South Carolina as a doctor of osteopathy. The board shall certify in writing to the Governor the results of each election. The Governor may reject any or all of the nominees upon satisfactory showing of the unfitness of those rejected. If the Governor declines to appoint any of the nominees submitted, additional nominees must be submitted in the same manner following another election. Vacancies must be filled in a like manner by appointment by the Governor, with the advice and consent of the Senate, for the unexpired portion of the term.
The Governor may remove a member of the board who is guilty of continued neglect of board duties or who is found to be incompetent, unprofessional, or dishonorable. No member may be removed without first giving the member an opportunity to refute the charges filed against the member. The member must be given a copy of the charges at the time they are filed.
In addition to the above members of the board, there shall be two additional lay members, one to be appointed by the President Pro Tempore of the Senate and one to be appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives."
SECTION 3. Section 40-47-211 of the 1976 Code is amended by adding a new paragraph at the end to read:
"In addition to the above members of the commission, each congressional district must be represented by two additional lay members who must be residents of the congressional districts which they represent on the commission. Of these members first elected, one must be elected for an initial term of two years, and one must be elected for an initial term of four years; the initial terms of these members must be set by the General Assembly at the election. Thereafter, all lay members must be elected for three-year terms. These lay members of the commission are limited to three terms. Vacancies must be filled for the remainder of the unexpired term by election in the same manner of original election."
SECTION 4. (A) There is established a Task Force on Emergency Room Diversion to be convened by the Department of Health and Environmental Control to develop a plan for community service alternatives or contract alternatives, or both, for persons who currently use emergency rooms for nonemergency health services. Membership on the task force must include, but is not limited to, representatives of the following:
(1) South Carolina Medical Association;
(2) South Carolina Academy of Family Physicians;
(3) South Carolina Hospital Association;
(4) Emergency Medical Services Association;
(5) South Carolina Sheriff's Association;
(6) Partners in Crisis;
(7) Probate Court Judges Association;
(8) South Carolina Psychiatric Association;
(9) South Carolina Department of Mental Health;
(10) South Carolina College of Emergency Room Physicians.
(B) The task force shall submit a plan and budget to reduce inappropriate utilization of the emergency room and to provide more appropriate services. The plan and budget must be submitted to House Medical, Military, Public and Municipal Affairs Committee and the Senate Medical Affairs Committee before January 1, 2005.
SECTION 5. This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.
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