Section 3701.351. Standards, procedures for hospital staff membership

(A) The governing body of every hospital shall set standards and procedures to be applied by the hospital and its medical staff in considering and acting upon applications for staff membership or professional privileges. These standards and procedures shall be available for public inspection.

(B) The governing body of any hospital, in considering and acting upon applications for staff membership or professional privileges within the scope of the applicants' respective licensures, shall not discriminate against a qualified person solely on the basis of whether that person is certified to practice medicine, osteopathic medicine, or podiatry, or licensed to practice dentistry or psychology. Staff membership or professional privileges shall be considered and acted on in accordance with standards and procedures established under division (A) of this section. This section does not permit a psychologist to admit a patient to a hospital in violation of section 3727.06 of the Revised Code.

(C) The governing body of any hospital that is licensed to provide maternity services, in considering and acting upon applications for clinical privileges, shall not discriminate against a qualified person solely on the basis that the person is authorized to practice nurse-midwifery. An application from a certified nurse-midwife who is not employed by the hospital shall contain the name of a physician member of the hospital's medical staff who holds clinical privileges in obstetrics at that hospital and who has agreed to be the collaborating physician for the applicant in accordance with section 4723.43 of the Revised Code.

(D) Any person may apply to the court of common pleas for temporary or permanent injunctions restraining a violation of division (A), (B), or (C) of this section. This action is an additional remedy not dependent on the adequacy of the remedy at law.

(E)

(1) If a hospital does not provide or permit the provision of any diagnostic or treatment service for mental or emotional disorders or any other service that may be legally performed by a psychologist licensed under Chapter 4732. of the Revised Code, this section does not require the hospital to provide or permit the provision of any such service and the hospital shall be exempt from requirements of this section pertaining to psychologists.

(2) This section does not impair the right of a hospital to enter into an employment, personal service, or any other kind of contract with a licensed psychologist, upon any such terms as the parties may mutually agree, for the provision of any service that may be legally performed by a licensed psychologist.

Effective Date: 09-10-1996