---
title: O.C.G.A. § 37-7-40. Designation by department of emergency receiving facilities; reporting; penalty for noncompliance.
collection: code
id: 37-7-40
cite_as: O.C.G.A. § 37-7-40 (2025)
canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/37-7-40
md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/37-7-40.md
text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/37-7-40/text
source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/api/document/docs/default-source/joint-features-document-library/t37-t39-(v28)-2021-pdf.pdf?sfvrsn=c6b9c518_0#page=288
date: 2025
status: active
corpus_version: 2025-supplement-89aa39ab3c68
license: CC0-1.0
publisher: Georgia Commons, an independent project of Georgia Civic Data. Not the State of Georgia. Not legal advice.
up: https://georgiacommons.org/code/37-7.md
previous: https://georgiacommons.org/code/37-7-24.md
next: https://georgiacommons.org/code/37-7-41.md
index: https://georgiacommons.org/code/index.md
version: the only printed version
in_force: true
current_through: Including Acts of the 2025 Regular Session of the General Assembly
heading_path: MENTAL HEALTH / HOSPITALIZATION AND TREATMENT OF ALCOHOLICS, DRUG DEPENDENT INDIVIDUALS, AND DRUG ABUSERS / EXAMINATION, HOSPITALIZATION, AND TREATMENT OF INVOLUNTARY PATIENTS / EMERGENCY RECEIVING FACILITIES FOR EXAMINATION OF PERSONS APPREHENDED PURSUANT TO PHYSICIAN’S CERTIFICATE OR COURT ORDER
---

# O.C.G.A. § 37-7-40. Designation by department of emergency receiving facilities; reporting; penalty for noncompliance.

(a) Any state owned or state operated facility may be designated by the department as an emergency receiving facility. The department shall maintain an emergency receiving facility at each Georgia regional hospital which shall accept, under Code Sections 37-7-41 through 37-7-44, patients found in any county in the service region of the hospital. Any other facility within the State of Georgia may be so designated by the department at the request of or with the consent of the governing officers of the facility.

(b) No later than January 15, 2023, any emergency receiving facility designated under this Code section shall report to the department de-identified, aggregated data with the total number of:

(1) Certificates received at the emergency receiving facility by county issued under subsection (a) of Code Section 37-7-41;

(2) Such certificates received at the emergency receiving facility by each type of licensed professional authorized under Code Section 37-7-41;

(3) Individuals examined in each emergency receiving facility designated or utilized by the department in accordance with subsection (a) of Code Section 37-7-41; and

(4) Individuals admitted to each emergency receiving facility designated or utilized by the department following an examination in accordance with subsection (a) of Code Section 37-7-41.

(c) The frequency of the reporting requirement required by subsection (b) of this Code section shall be determined by the department no later than December 31, 2021.

(d) Failure to submit the information required by subsection (b) of this Code section as directed by the department shall result in the suspension of a facility’s designation as an emergency receiving facility until the required reports are submitted to the department.

## History

Code 1933, § 88-404.6, enacted by Ga. L. 1971, p. 273, § 1; Code 1933, § 88-404.1, enacted by Ga. L. 1978, p. 1856, § 1; Ga. L. 2021, p. 686, § 3/HB 591.

The 2021 amendment, effective July 1, 2021, designated the existing provisions of this Code section as subsection (a) and added subsections (b) through (d).