46th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2003

RELATING TO COMMUNICABLE DISEASES; ENACTING AND ENTERING INTO THE INTERSTATE COMPACT ON THREATENING COMMUNICABLE DISEASES; GRANTING CERTAIN POWERS; IMPOSING CERTAIN DUTIES.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:

Section 1. INTERSTATE COMPACT ON THREATENING COMMUNICABLE DISEASES--ENTERED INTO.--The "Interstate Compact on Threatening Communicable Diseases" is enacted into law and entered into with all other jurisdictions legally joining therein in the form substantially as follows:

The party states find that the proper and expeditious treatment of persons infected with threatening communicable diseases can be facilitated by cooperative action, to the benefit of the patients, their families and society as a whole. Further, the party states find that the necessity of and desirability for furnishing such care and treatment bears no primary relation to the residence of the patient but that, on the contrary, the controlling factors of community safety and humanitarianism require that facilities and services be made available for all who are in need of them. Consequently, it is the purpose of this compact and of the party states to provide the necessary legal basis for the appropriate care and treatment of the persons with threatening communicable diseases under a system that recognizes the paramount importance of patient welfare and to establish the responsibilities of the party states in terms of such welfare.

As used in this compact:

A. "sending state" means a party state from which a patient is transported pursuant to the provisions of the compact or from which it is contemplated that a patient may be so sent;

B. "receiving state" means a party state to which a patient is transported pursuant to the provisions of the compact or to which it is contemplated that a patient may be transported;

C. "institution" means any hospital or other facility maintained by a party state or political subdivision thereof for the care and treatment of threatening communicable diseases;

D. "patient" means any person subject to or eligible, as determined by the laws of the sending state, for care, treatment or supervision under this compact;

E. "state" means any state, territory or possession of the United States, the District of Columbia and the commonwealth of Puerto Rico; and

F. "threatening communicable disease" means a disease that causes death or great bodily harm, passes from one person to another and for which there is no means by which the public reasonably can avoid the risk of contracting the disease.

A. Whenever a person physically present in any party state shall be in need of hospitalization by reason of infection with a threatening communicable disease, he shall be eligible for care and treatment in an institution irrespective of his residence, subject to the availability of appropriations and bed space for that purpose.

B. The provisions of Subsection A of this article to the contrary notwithstanding, any patient may be transferred to an institution in another state whenever there are factors based upon clinical determinations indicating that the care and treatment of the patient would be facilitated or improved thereby. The sending state shall bear the costs of the care and treatment provided in the receiving state, pursuant to a written agreement between the states. Any such hospitalization may be for the entire period of care and treatment or for any portion or portions thereof. The factors referred to in this subsection shall include the patient's full record with due regard for the location of the patient's family, character of the threatening communicable disease and probable duration thereof, and such other factors as shall be considered appropriate.

C. No state shall be obliged to receive any patient sent under Subsection B of this article unless the sending state has given advance notice of its intention to send the patient; conducted a medical examination of the patient; furnished all available medical and other pertinent records concerning the patient; and given the qualified medical or other appropriate clinical authorities of the receiving state an opportunity to examine the patient if the authorities so wish; and unless the receiving state shall agree to accept the patient.

D. In the event that the laws of the receiving state establish a system of priorities for the admission of patients, an interstate patient under this compact shall receive the same priority as a local patient and shall be taken in the same order and at the same time that he would be taken if he were a local patient.

E. Under this compact, the determination as to the suitable place of hospitalization for a patient may be reviewed at any time and such further transfer of the patient may be made as seems likely to be in the best interest of the patient.

The duly accredited officers of any state party to this compact, upon the establishment of their authority and the identity of the patient, may transport any patient being moved under this compact through any and all states party to this compact, without interference.

A. No person shall be deemed a patient of more than one institution at any given time. Completion of transfer of any patient to an institution in a receiving state shall have the effect of making the person a patient of the institution in the receiving state.

B. The sending state shall pay all costs of and incidental to the transportation and care of any patient under this compact, but any two or more party states may, by making a specific agreement for that purpose, arrange for a different allocation of costs as among themselves.

C. No provision of this compact alters or affects any internal relationships among the departments, agencies and officers of and in the government of a party state, or between a party state and its subdivisions, as to the payment of costs, or responsibilities therefor.

D. Nothing in this compact prevents any party state or subdivision thereof from asserting any right against any person, agency or other entity in regard to cost for which such party state or subdivision thereof may be responsible pursuant to any provision of this compact.

E. Nothing in this compact invalidates any reciprocal agreement between a party state and a non-party state relating to care or treatment of the person with the threatening communicable disease, or any statutory authority pursuant to which such agreements may be made.

Each party state shall appoint a "compact administrator" who, on behalf of his state, shall act as general coordinator of activities under the compact in his state and who shall receive copies of all reports, correspondence and other documents relating to any patient processed under the compact by his state either in the capacity of sending or receiving state. The compact administrator or his duly designated representative shall be the official with whom other party states shall deal in any matter relating to the compact or any patient processed under the compact.

The duly constituted administrative authorities of any two or more party states may enter into supplementary agreements for the provision of any service or facility or for the maintenance of any institution on a joint or cooperative basis whenever the states concerned shall find that such agreements will improve services, facilities or institutional care and treatment in the fields of threatening communicable diseases. No supplementary agreement shall be construed so as to relieve any party state of any obligation that it otherwise would have under other provisions of this compact.

This compact shall enter into full force and effect as to any state when enacted by it into law and such state shall thereafter be a party to the compact with any and all states legally joining in it.

This compact shall be liberally construed so as to effectuate its purposes. The provisions of this compact shall be severable and if any phrase, clause, sentence or provision of this compact is declared to be contrary to the constitution of any party state or of the United States or the applicability thereof to any government, agency, person or circumstance is held invalid, the validity of the remainder of this compact and its applicability to any government, agency, person or circumstance shall not be affected. If this compact shall be held contrary to the constitution of any state party to the compact, the compact shall remain in full force and effect as to the remaining states and in full force and effect as to the state affected as to all severable matters.

Section 2. COMPACT COORDINATOR--POWERS AND DUTIES.--Pursuant to the Interstate Compact on Threatening Communicable Diseases, the director of the public health division of the department of health or his designee is designated as the compact administrator and, acting jointly with like officers of other party states, may promulgate rules to carry out more effectively the terms of the compact. The compact administrator shall cooperate with all agencies and officers of this state and the political subdivisions of this state in facilitating the proper administration of the compact or of any supplementary agreement entered into by this state under the compact.

Section 3. SUPPLEMENTARY AGREEMENTS.--The compact administrator may enter into supplementary agreements with appropriate officials of other states under Article VII of the compact. In the event that the supplementary agreements shall require or contemplate the use of any institution or facility of this state or require or contemplate the provision of any service by this state, no agreement shall have force or effect until approved by the head of the agency under whose jurisdiction the institution or facility is operated or whose agency will be charged with the rendering of the service.

Section 4. PAYMENTS BY ADMINISTRATOR.--The compact administrator may make or arrange for any payments necessary to discharge any financial obligations imposed upon this state by the compact or by any supplementary agreement entered into under the compact.

Section 5. NOTICE OF TRANSFER.--Whenever the compact administrator receives a request for the transfer of a patient from an institution in this state to an institution in another party state, and determines that the transfer is in the best interest of the patient, the administrator shall give notice of the proposed transfer to the patient. This notice shall also notify the patient of the right, if requested, to a court hearing on the proposed transfer and shall contain a request for written consent from the patient for the transfer. The notice shall be in writing, and the patient shall be given fourteen days from the date of mailing of the notice to consent or object to the transfer, or to request a court hearing. No transfer shall be made if there is a written objection or request made to the compact administrator except upon order of the court after hearing. No transfer shall be made of a patient ordered hospitalized by any court unless written notice of the proposed transfer has been given to that court.