(1) "Ambulance operator" means any person operating an ambulance for hire.

(2) "Authority" means the Oregon Health Authority.

(3) "Care" means:

(a) Treatment in and by a hospital.

(b) Professional services of a doctor.

(c) Professional services of a nurse.

(d) Medicines, substances, articles, appliances or physical therapy supplied on the prescription or order of the doctor in charge of the case.

(e) Transportation and services by an ambulance operator.

(f) Supplying prosthetic appliances and services.

(g) Any combination of any two or more of the services listed in this subsection.

(h) Professional services of a licensed physical therapist.

(4) "Claimant" means a hospital, doctor, nurse, pharmacy, ambulance operator, supplier of prosthetic appliances and services or licensed physical therapist, who supplies care to an indigent patient, and who files a claim for charges therefor pursuant to this chapter. In respect of a hospital, it includes the operator or managing officer thereof. "Claimant" also means an indigent patient, or a personal representative of the patient after the death of the patient, but claims allowed shall be paid directly to those who supply care to the indigent patient; and an indigent claimant, or personal representative of the patient, has no right of appeal under ORS 445.160 (1969 Replacement Part).

(5) "Doctor" means a person licensed by the appropriate board of this state to practice one or more of the healing arts.

(6) "Hospital" includes nursing homes and means any institution that has a provider agreement with the authority and which admits and cares for patients suffering from motor vehicle injuries and applies for the benefits of this chapter in the manner provided in ORS 445.110.

(7) "Indigent patient" means a person who has suffered a motor vehicle injury and who is unable to pay the cost of the care supplied on account of such injury and, except in the case of a claim filed after a claim arising out of the same motor vehicle injury has been allowed by the authority or finally adjudged affirmatively by a court on appeal, whose account therefor remains unpaid at the expiration of 90 days after the termination of the care and who is not entitled to the benefits of the Workers’ Compensation Law of this state or any other state or country on account of such injury.

(8) "Motor vehicle injury" means any personal injury suffered by a human being, and accidentally caused in, by, or as the proximate result of, the movement of a motor vehicle on a public way, street or highway within this state, whether the injured person is the operator of the vehicle, a passenger in the same or another vehicle, a pedestrian or whatever the relationship of the injured person to the movement of the vehicle, and whether or not the vehicle is under the control of a human being at the time of the injury.

(9) "Nurse" means a person registered or licensed to practice nursing by the Oregon State Board of Nursing.

(10) "Pharmacy" means a place of business licensed by the State Board of Pharmacy, where drugs, medicines, prescriptions, chemicals or poisons are compounded, dispensed or sold at retail.

(11) "Supplier of prosthetic appliances and services" means a place of business or person licensed to manufacture or supply prosthetic appliances and services.

(12) "Licensed physical therapist" means a physical therapist within the State of Oregon licensed by the Oregon Board of Physical Therapy. [Amended by 1953 c.399 §1; 1965 c.376 §1; 1969 c.247 §4; 1969 c.260 §1; 1973 c.141 §1; 1983 c.740 §164; 1985 c.279 §3; 2001 c.104 §183; 2009 c.595 §801; 2019 c.43 §4]