§ 5-29-1 - Definitions.
SECTION 5-29-1
§ 5-29-1 Definitions. – (a) "Board" means the Rhode Island board of examiners in podiatry.
(b) "Department" means the Rhode Island department of health.
(c) "Director" means the director of the Rhode Islanddepartment of health.
(d) "Health care facility" means any institutional healthservice provider licensed pursuant to the provisions of chapter 17 of title 23.
(e) "Health maintenance organization" means a public orprivate organization licensed pursuant to the provisions of chapter 17 of title23 or chapter 41 of title 27.
(f) "Limited registrant" means a person holding a limitedregistration certificate pursuant to the provisions of this chapter.
(g) "Nonprofit medical services corporation" or "nonprofithospital service corporation" or "nonprofit podiatry/medical servicecorporation" means any corporation organized pursuant to chapter 19 or 20 oftitle 27 for the purpose of establishing, maintaining and operating a nonprofitmedical hospital.
(h) "Peer review board" means any committee of a state orlocal podiatry association or society, or a committee of any licensed healthcare facility, or the podiatry staff of the committee, or any committee of apodiatric care foundation or health maintenance organization, or any staffcommittee or consultant of a hospital, medical, or podiatric servicecorporation, the function of which, is to evaluate and improve the quality ofpodiatric care rendered by providers of podiatric care service or to determinethat podiatric care services rendered were professionally indicated or wereperformed in compliance with the applicable standard of care or that the costfor podiatric care rendered was considered reasonable by the providers ofprofessional podiatric care services in the area and shall include a committeefunctioning as a utilization review committee under the provisions of theHealth Insurance for the Aged Act (Medicare) or as a professional standardsreview organization or statewide professional standards review council underthe provisions of P.L. 92-603, 42 U.S.C. § 1301 et seq., (professionalstandards review organizations) or a similar committee or a committee ofsimilar purpose, to evaluate or review the diagnosis or treatment of theperformance or rendition of podiatric services which are performed under publicpodiatric programs of either state or federal design.
(i) "Person" means any individual, partnership, firm,corporation, association, trust or estate, state or political subdivision orinstrumentality of a state.
(j) "Podiatrist" means a person with a license to practicepodiatric medicine and surgery in this state under the provisions of thischapter.
(k) "Podiatrist," a person licensed as described in thischapter, shall be considered a physician and surgeon of the foot and ankle. Forthe purposes of reimbursement by and for subscriber benefits/participationagreements with health maintenance organizations, nonprofit medical servicecorporations, for-profit medical service corporations, and third partyinsurers, it is unlawful to discriminate against podiatrists.
(l) "Practice of podiatry." Any person is practicing podiatrywithin the meaning of this chapter who uses or permits to be used, directly orindirectly, for profit or otherwise, for their own self or for any otherperson, in connection with their own name, the word "podiatrist" or "podiatricphysician and surgeon," or the title DPM, or any other words, letters, titles,or descriptive matter, personal or not, which directly or indirectly impliesthe practice of podiatry, or who owns, leases, maintains, or operates apodiatry business in any office or other room or rooms where podiatryoperations are performed, or directly or indirectly is manager, proprietor orconductor of the business; or who directly or indirectly informs the public inany language, orally, in writing, or by drawings, demonstrations, specimens,signs, or pictures that he or she can perform or will attempt to perform footoperations of any kind; or who undertakes, by any means or method, gratuitouslyor for a salary, fee, money, or other reward paid or granted directly orindirectly to himself or herself or to any other person, to diagnose or professto diagnose, or to treat or profess to treat, or to prescribe for or profess toprescribe for any of the lesions, diseases, disorders, or deficiencies of thepedal extremity. The foot is defined to be the pedal extremity of the humanbody and its articulations, and shall include the tendons and muscles of thelower leg only as they are involved in the condition of the foot.
(m) Wherever in the general or public laws there appear thewords chiropody, chiropodist and chiropodists, the words podiatry, podiatristand podiatrists shall be substituted.