GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA
1993 SESSION
CHAPTER 689
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
Section 1. The title to Article 27 of Chapter 90 of the General Statutes is amended to read:
"ARTICLE 27.
"Runners Referral
Fees and Payment for Certain
Solicitations Prohibited."
Sec. 2. G.S. 90-401 reads as rewritten:
"§ 90-401.
Runners Referral fees and payment for certain solicitations prohibited.
A health care provider shall not financially compensate in
any manner a person, firm, or corporation for recommending or securing the
health care provider's employment by a patient, or as a reward for having made
a recommendation resulting in the health care provider's employment by a
patient. No health care provider who refers a patient of that health
care provider to another health care provider shall receive financial or other
compensation from the health care provider receiving the referral as a payment
solely or primarily for the referral. This provision section
shall not be construed to prohibit a health care provider's purchase of
advertising which does not entail direct personal contact or telephone
contact of a potential patient. from a bona fide mass media outlet."
Sec. 3. Article 27 of Chapter 90 of the General Statutes is amended by adding the following new section to read:
"§ 90-401.1. Direct solicitation prohibited.
It shall be unlawful for a health care provider or the provider's employee or agent to initiate direct personal contact or telephone contact with any injured, diseased, or infirmed person, or with any other person residing in the injured, diseased, or infirmed person's household, for a period of 90 days following the injury or the onset of the disease or infirmity, if the purpose of initiating the contact, in whole or in part, is to attempt to induce or persuade the injured, diseased, or infirmed person to become a patient of the health care provider. This section shall not be construed to prohibit a health care provider's use of posted letters, brochures, or information packages to solicit injured, diseased, or infirmed persons, so long as such use does not entail direct personal contact with the person."
Sec. 4. G.S. 90-402 reads as rewritten:
"§ 90-402. Sanctions.
Violation of G.S. 90-401 the provisions of this
Article shall be grounds for the offending health care provider's licensing
board to suspend or revoke the health care provider's license, to refuse to
renew the health care provider's license, or to take any other disciplinary
action authorized by law."
Sec. 5. If any provision or application of this act is held invalid, such invalidity shall not affect other provisions or applications of this act which can be given effect without the invalid provision or application, and to this end the provisions of this act are declared to be severable.
Sec. 6. This act becomes effective October 1, 1994.
In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 6th day of July, 1994.
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Dennis A. Wicker
President of the Senate
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Daniel Blue, Jr.
Speaker of the House of Representatives