New Mexico § 24-1-2 - Definitions

§ 24-1-2. Definitions

As used in the Public Health Act: A. “ condition of public health importance ” means an infection, a disease, a syndrome, a symptom, an injury or other threat

that is identifiable on an individual or community level and can reasonably be expected

to lead to adverse health effects in the community; B. “ crisis triage center ” means a health facility that: (1) is licensed by the department of health; and (2) provides stabilization of behavioral health crises and may include residential

and nonresidential stabilization; C. “ department ” means: (1) the department of health; or (2) the children, youth and families department as to residential treatment centers

that serve persons up to twenty-one years of age, community mental health centers

that serve only persons up to twenty-one years of age, day treatment centers that

serve persons up to twenty-one years of age, shelter care homes and those outpatient

facilities that are also community-based behavioral health facilities serving only

persons up to twenty-one years of age; D. “ director ” means the secretary; E. “ health care provider ” means a person licensed to provide health care in the ordinary course of business,

except as otherwise defined in the Public Health Act; F. “ health facility ” means a public hospital, profit or nonprofit private hospital, general or special

hospital, outpatient facility, crisis triage center, freestanding birth center, adult

daycare facility, nursing home, intermediate care facility, assisted living facility,

boarding home not under the control of an institution of higher learning, child care

facility, shelter care home, diagnostic and treatment center, rehabilitation center,

infirmary, community mental health center that serves both children and adults or

adults only, residential treatment center that serves persons up to twenty-one years

of age, community mental health center that serves only persons up to twenty-one years

of age and day treatment center that serves persons up to twenty-one years of age

or a health service organization operating as a freestanding hospice or a home health

agency. The designation of these entities as health facilities is only for the purposes

of definition in the Public Health Act and does not imply that a freestanding hospice

or a home health agency is considered a health facility for the purposes of other

provisions of state or federal laws. “ Health facility ” also includes those facilities that, by federal regulation, must be licensed by

the state to obtain or maintain full or partial, permanent or temporary federal funding. It does not include the offices and treatment rooms of licensed private practitioners; G. “ screening ” means a preliminary procedure, including a test or examination, that: (1) may require further investigation; and (2) can identify individuals with unrecognized health risk factors or asymptomatic

disease conditions in populations; H. “ secretary ” means: (1) the secretary of health; (2) the secretary of children, youth and families as to residential treatment centers

that serve persons up to twenty-one years of age, community mental health centers

that serve only persons up to twenty-one years of age, day treatment centers that

serve persons up to twenty-one years of age, shelter care homes and those outpatient

facilities that are also community-based behavioral health facilities serving only

persons up to twenty-one years of age; or (3) the secretary of early childhood education and care for child care facilities;

and I. “ test ” means any diagnostic or investigative analysis or medical procedure that determines

the presence of, absence of or exposure to a condition of public health importance

or its precursor in an individual.