Rhode Island Code of Regulations
Title 216 - Department of health
Chapter 10 - Public Health Administration
Subchapter 10 - Registries
Part 3 - Rhode Island Birth Defects Registry (216-RICR-10-10-3)
Section 216-RICR-10-10-3.3 - Definitions

1. "Act" means R.I. Gen. Laws Chapter 23-13.3.

2. "Birth defects" means structural and chromosomal abnormalities that affect the development of organs and tissues of an infant or child and may be identified during pregnancy, at birth or following birth before a child's fifth (5th) birthday. Possible causes or contributing factors to birth defects include genetics, environmental pollutants, occupational hazards, dietary factors, medications and personal behaviors.

3. "Clinical laboratory" means a facility for the biological, microbiological, serological, chemical, immunohematological, hematological, radiobioassay, cytological, pathological, or other examination of materials derived from the human body for the purpose of providing information for the diagnosis, prevention, or treatment of any disease or impairment of, or the assessment of the health of human beings, and licensed pursuant to R.I. Gen. Laws Chapter 23-16.2.

4. "Council" means the Birth Defects Surveillance and Information Advisory Council.

5. "Department" means the Rhode Island Department of Health.

6. "Director" means the Director of the Department of Health.

7. "Health care facility" means any institutional health service provider, facility or institution, place, building, agency, or portion thereof, whether a partnership or corporation, whether public or private, whether organized for profit or not, used, operated, or engaged in providing health care services, including but not limited to hospitals; nursing facilities; home nursing care provider (which shall include skilled nursing services and may also include activities allowed as a home care provider or as a nursing service agency); home care provider (which may include services such as personal care or homemaker services); rehabilitation centers; kidney disease treatment centers; health maintenance organizations; freestanding emergency care facilities, and facilities providing surgical treatment to patients not requiring hospitalization (surgi-centers); hospice care, and physician ambulatory surgery centers and podiatry ambulatory surgery centers providing surgical treatment. The term "health care facility" also includes organized ambulatory care facilities which are not part of a hospital but which are organized and operated to provide health care services to outpatients such as central services facilities serving more than one health care facility or health care provider, treatment centers, diagnostic centers, outpatient clinics, infirmaries and health centers, school based health centers and neighborhood health centers. The term "health care facility" shall not apply to organized ambulatory care facilities owned and operated by professional service corporations as defined in R.I. Gen. Laws Chapter 7-5.1, or to a private practitioner's (physician, dentist, or other health care provider) office or group of the practitioners' offices (whether owned and/or operated by an individual practitioner, alone or as a member of a partnership, professional service corporation, organization, or association).

8. "Health care practitioner" means a physician, physician assistant, certified registered nurse practitioner, or midwife who provides primary care to children five (5) years of age and younger.

9. "Primary care" means the basic or general health care furnished by a practitioner who is responsible for the overall and ongoing coordination of a patient's health care. In most instances, primary care is focused on the point at which a patient first seeks assistance from the health care system for non-emergency services.

10. "Registrar of the Rhode Island Birth Defects Registry" hereinafter referred to as Registrar, means the person within the Department designated by the Director to be responsible for the operation of the Rhode Island Birth Defects Registry.

11. "Rhode Island Birth Defects Registry" means the central registry established within the Department by the Director pursuant to the Act as the statewide registry for the collection and recording of information on certain cases of birth defects for the purpose of describing the occurrence of birth defects in the newborn and children up to five; detecting trends of morbidity and mortality, stimulating epidemiological research, diminishing the impact of birth defects and infant mortality; and identifying newborns and children with birth defects to intervene on a timely basis for treatment.