[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 42, Volume 1]
[Revised as of October 1, 2002]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 42CFR51c.304]

[Page 186-187]
 
                         TITLE 42--PUBLIC HEALTH
 
    CHAPTER I--PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN 
                                SERVICES
 
PART 51c--GRANTS FOR COMMUNITY HEALTH SERVICES--Table of Contents
 
        Subpart C--Grants for Operating Community Health Centers
 
Sec. 51c.304  Governing board.

    A governing board for the center shall be established by an 
applicant as follows:
    (a) Size. The board shall consist of at least 9 but not more than 25 
members, except that this requirement may be waived by the Secretary for 
good cause shown.
    (b) Composition. (1) A majority of the board members shall be 
individuals who are or will be served by the center and who, as a group, 
represent the individuals being or to be served in terms of demographic 
factors, such as race, ethnicity, sex.
    (2) No more than one-half of the remaining members of the board may 
be individuals who derive more than 10 percent of their annual income 
from the health care industry.
    (3) The remaining members of the board shall be representative of 
the community in which the center's catchment area is located and shall 
be selected for their expertise in community affairs, local government, 
finance and banking, legal affairs, trade unions, and other commercial 
and industrial concerns, or social service agencies within the 
community.
    (4) No member of the board shall be an employee of the center, or 
spouse or child, parent, brother or sister by blood or marriage of such 
an employee. The project director may be a non-voting, ex-officio member 
of the board.
    (c) Selection of members. The method of selection of all governing 
board members shall be prescribed in the by-laws or other internal 
governing rules of the center. Such by-laws or other rules must specify 
a process of selection of individuals on the governing board who 
represent the population served or to be served by the center so that 
such individuals, as a group, are representative of such population. 
Such process of selection in the by-laws or other rules is subject to 
approval by the Secretary.
    (d) Functions and responsibilities. (1) The governing board for the 
center

[[Page 187]]

shall have authority for the establishment of policy in the conduct of 
the center.
    (2) The governing board shall hold regularly scheduled meetings, at 
least once each month, for which minutes shall be kept.
    (3) The governing board shall have specific responsibility for:
    (i) Approval for the selection and dismissal of a project director 
or chief executive officer of the center;
    (ii) Establishing personnel policies and procedures, including 
selection and dismissal procedures, salary and benefit scales, employee 
grievance procedures, and equal opportunity practices;
    (iii) Adopting policy for financial management practices, including 
a system to assure accountability for center resources, approval of the 
annual project budget, center priorities, eligibility for services 
including criteria for partial payment schedules, and long-range 
financial planning;
    (iv) Evaluating center activities including services utilization 
patterns, productivity of the center, patient satisfaction, achievement 
of project objectives, and development of a process for hearing and 
resolving patient grievances;
    (v) Assuring that the center is operated in compliance with 
applicable Federal, State, and local laws and regulations; and
    (vi) Adopting health care policies including scope and availability 
of services, location and hours of services, and quality-of-care audit 
procedures.