ENROLLED
Senate Bill No. 652
(By Senators Prezioso, Unger, Boley, Edgell, Ross, Rowe,
Sharpe, Smith and Weeks)
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[Passed March 8, 2003; in effect ninety days from passage.]
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AN ACT to amend and reenact section one, article eight, chapter
twenty-six of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended; and to amend and reenact
section one, article eleven of said chapter, all relating to
emergency hospitals; and renaming the Marion health care
hospital the John Manchin, Sr., health care center.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section one, article eight, chapter twenty-six of the
code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be amended and reenacted; and that section one, article
eleven of said chapter be amended and reenacted, all to read as
follows:
ARTICLE 8. EMERGENCY HOSPITALS.
§26-8-1. Continuation; management; superintendent; qualifications
of superintendent; division of fiscal, administrative and
clinical duties; certain persons exempted from qualification requirements.
(a) The hospitals heretofore established and known,
respectively, as Welch emergency hospital and Fairmont emergency
hospital shall be continued and shall be managed, directed and
controlled as prescribed in article eleven, chapter twenty-six of
this code: Provided, That the hospital established as Fairmont
emergency hospital and later renamed the Marion health care
hospital shall henceforth be known as the John Manchin, Sr.,
health care center and any reference in this code to the Fairmont
emergency hospital or the Marion health care hospital shall mean
the John Manchin, Sr., health care center.
(b) The chief executive officer of each of said hospitals
shall be the superintendent, who shall be a college graduate and
have a minimum of two years' experience in either hospital
administration, health services administration or business
administration with broad knowledge of accounting, purchasing and
personnel practices as related to the rendition of health and
health-related services.
(c) For purposes of this section, "superintendent" means the
person having the fiscal responsibility of the hospital and the
authority to manage and administer the financial, business and
personnel affairs of the hospital. "Clinical director" means the
person having the responsibility for decisions involving clinical
and medical treatment of patients and who shall be a duly qualified physician licensed to practice medicine in the state of West
Virginia.
(d) The provisions of this section relating to the
qualification of persons eligible to serve as superintendent shall
not apply to any person serving in the capacity of business manager
on the effective date hereof and who has served in such capacity
for at least six consecutive months next preceding such effective
date.
§26-11-1. Management by director of health.
The director of health or his or her successor shall manage,
direct, control and govern the Andrew S. Rowan memorial home,
Denmar hospital, heretofore established and known as Denmar state
hospital, Hopemont hospital, heretofore known as Hopemont state
hospital, Pinecrest hospital, John Manchin, Sr., health care
center, established as the Fairmont emergency hospital and formerly
known as the Marion health care hospital and Welch emergency
hospital and such other state health care facilities as are or may
hereafter be created by law.
The director shall designate the functions of each facility
and prescribe guidelines for the admission of persons thereto,
pursuant to rules and regulations promulgated by the board of
health, and shall supervise the business, personnel and clinical
responsibilities of each facility: Provided, That in prescribing
admission guidelines, precedence shall be given to persons unable to pay therefor.