R386-702-17. Public Health Emergency

  (1) Declaration of Emergency: With the Governor's and Executive Director's or in the absence of the Executive Director, his designee's, concurrence, the Department or a local health department may declare a public health emergency by issuing an order mandating reporting emergency illnesses or health conditions specified in sections R386-702-3 for a reasonable time.

  (2) For purposes of an order issued under this section and for the duration of the public health emergency, the following definitions apply.

  (a) "emergency center" means:

  (i) a health care facility licensed under the provisions of Chapter 26-21 that operates an emergency department; or

  (ii) a clinic that provides emergency or urgent health care to an average of 20 or more persons daily.

  (b) "encounter" means an instance of an individual presenting at the emergency center who satisfies the criteria in section R386-702-3(2); and

  (c) "diagnostic information" means an emergency center's records of individuals who present for emergency or urgent treatment, including the reason for the visit, chief complaint, results of diagnostic tests, presenting diagnosis, and final diagnosis, including diagnostic codes.

  (3) Reporting Encounters: The Department shall designate the fewest number of emergency centers as is practicable to obtain the necessary data to respond to the emergency.

  (a) Designated emergency centers shall report using the process described in R386-702-6.

  (b) An emergency center designated by the Department shall report the encounters to the Department by:

  (i) allowing Department representatives or agents, including local health department representatives, to review its diagnostic information to identify encounters during the previous day; or

  (ii) reviewing its diagnostic information on encounters during the previous day and reporting all encounters by 9:00 a.m. the following day, or

  (iii) identifying encounters and submitting that information electronically to the Department, using a computerized analysis method, and reporting mechanism and schedule approved by the Department; or

  (iv) by other arrangement approved by the Department.

  (4) For purposes of epidemiological and statistical analysis, the emergency center shall report on encounters during the public health emergency that do not meet the definition for a reportable emergency illness or health condition. The report shall be made using the process described in R386-702-6 and shall include the following information for each such encounter:

  (a) facility name;

  (b) date of visit;

  (c) time of visit;

  (d) patient's age;

  (e) patient's sex;

  (f) patient's zip code for patient's residence.

  (5) If either the Department or a local health department collects identifying health information on an individual who is the subject of a report made mandatory under this section, it shall destroy that identifying information upon the earlier of its determination that the information is no longer necessary to carry out an investigation under this section or 180 days after the information was collected. However, the Department and local health departments shall retain identifiable information gathered under other sections of this rule or other legal authority.

  (6) Reporting on encounters during the public health emergency does not relieve a reporting entity of its responsibility to report under other sections of this rule or other legal authority.