South Carolina § 44-7-320 - Denial, revocation, or suspension of license; penalties.

§ 44-7-320. Denial, revocation, or suspension of license; penalties.

(A)(1) The department may deny, suspend, or revoke licenses or assess a monetary penalty, or both, against a person or facility for:

(a) violating a provision of this article or departmental regulations;

(b) engaging in conduct or practices detrimental to the health or safety of patients, residents, clients, or employees of a facility or service. This provision does not refer to health practices authorized by law;

(c) refusing to admit and treat alcoholic and substance abusers, the mentally ill, or persons with intellectual disability, whose admission or treatment has been prescribed by a physician who is a member of the facility's medical staff, or discriminating against alcoholics, the mentally ill, or persons with intellectual disability solely because of the alcoholism, mental illness, or intellectual disability; or

(d) failing to allow a team advocacy inspection of a community residential care facility by the South Carolina Protection and Advocacy System for the Handicapped, Inc., as allowed by law.

(2) Consideration to deny, suspend, or revoke licenses or assess monetary penalties, or both, is not limited to information relating to the current licensing period but includes consideration of all pertinent information regarding the facility and the applicant.

(3) If in the department's judgment conditions or practices exist in a facility that pose an immediate threat to the health, safety, and welfare of the residents, the department immediately may suspend the facility's license and shall contact the appropriate agencies for placement of the residents. Within five calendar days of the suspension a preliminary hearing must be held to determine if the immediate threatening conditions or practices continue to exist. If they do not, the license must be immediately reinstated. Whether the license is reinstated or suspension remains due to the immediate threatening conditions or practices, the department may proceed with the process for permanent revocation pursuant to this section.

(B) Should the department determine to assess a penalty, deny, suspend, or revoke a license, it shall send to the appropriate person or facility, by certified mail, a notice setting forth the particular reasons for the determination. The determination becomes final thirty days after the mailing of the notice, unless the person or facility, within such thirty-day period, requests in writing a contested case hearing before the board, or its designee, pursuant to the Administrative Procedures Act. On the basis of the contested case hearing, the determination involved must be affirmed, modified, or set aside. Judicial review may be sought in accordance with the Administrative Procedures Act.

(C) The penalty imposed by the department for violation of this article or its regulations must be not less than one hundred nor more than five thousand dollars for each violation of any of the provisions of this article. Each day's violation is considered a subsequent offense.

(D) Failure to pay a penalty within thirty days is grounds for suspension, revocation, or denial of a renewal of a license. A license must not be issued, reissued, or renewed until all penalties finally assessed against a person or facility have been paid.

(E) All penalties collected pursuant to this article must be deposited in the state treasury and credited to the general fund of the state.

HISTORY: 1962 Code SECTION 32-781.1; 1971 (57) 376; 1979 Act No. 51 SECTION 1; 1981 Act No. 16, SECTION 3; 1987 Act No. 184 SECTION 4; 1988 Act No. 670, SECTION 1; 1990 Act No. 377, SECTION 1; 1992 Act No. 339, SECTION 1; 2010 Act No. 223, SECTION 11, eff June 7, 2010; 2010 Act No. 278, SECTION 19, eff July 1, 2010; 2011 Act No. 47, SECTION 12, eff June 7, 2011; 2023 Act No. 20 (S.164), SECTION 5, eff May 16, 2023.

Effect of Amendment

2023 Act No. 20, SECTION 5, in (A)(1), deleted former (b), which related to permitting, aiding, or abetting the commission of an unlawful act relating to the securing of a Certificate of Need, and redesignated former (c) to (e) as (b) to (d), respectively; in (D), in the second sentence, substituted "A license must not" for "No license may"; deleted former (E), which prohibited Certificates of Need from being issued to any person or facility until final penalties had been paid, and redesignated former (F) as (E); and made nonsubstantive changes.