Arkansas Administrative Code › Agency 239 - Department of Health › Rule 239.00.22-003 - Rules for Hospice in Arkansas

Current through Register Vol. 49, No. 6, June, 2024
SECTION
		  1.
PREFACE
These rules have been prepared for the purpose of establishing
			 criteria for minimum standards for the licensure operation and maintenance of
			 hospices in Arkansas that is consistent with current trends in patient care
			 practices. By necessity they are of a regulatory nature but are considered to
			 be practical minimal design and operational standards for these facilities.
			 These standards are not static and are subject to periodic revisions in the
			 future as new knowledge and changes in patient care trends become apparent.
			 However, it is expected that facilities will exceed these minimum requirements
			 and that they will not be dependent upon future revisions in these standards as
			 a necessary prerequisite for improved services. Hospices have a strong moral
			 responsibility for providing optimum patient care and treatment for the
			 terminally ill and their families.
SECTION 2.
AUTHORITY
The following Rules for Hospices in Arkansas are duly adopted and
			 promulgated by the Arkansas State Board of Health pursuant to the authority
			 expressly conferred by the laws of the State of Arkansas in Ark. Code Ann.
			 §
								20-7-117,
			 §
								20-7-123, and
			 §
								20-38-101
			 et seq.
SECTION 3.
PURPOSE
To establish rules minimum standards for hospice programs
			 operating in the State of Arkansas. These rules will ensure high quality
			 professional care for terminally ill patients and their families by providing
			 for the safe, humane and appropriate palliative care of all admitted to hospice
			 program regardless of setting and shall apply to both new and existing
			 agencies.
SECTION 4.
DEFINITIONS
The word
shall
as used in these rules means
			 mandatory.
A. Administrator means the
		  person responsible for the management of a hospice.
B. Attending physician means a doctor of
		  medicine or osteopathy who is licensed in the state of Arkansas; and is
		  identified by the patient, at the time he/she elects to receive hospice care,
		  as having the most significant role in the determination and delivery of the
		  patient's medical care.
C.
		  Autonomous means a separate and distinct entity which functions under its own
		  administrations and bylaws either within or independently of a parent
		  organization.
D. Bereavement
		  counseling means counseling services provided to the patient's family after the
		  patient's death.
E. Clergy or
		  Pastoral Counselor means an individual with training in spiritual
		  counseling.
F. Department means the
		  Arkansas Department of Health.
G.
		  Election Statement means the initial election for hospice care signed by the
		  patient or patient's representative.
H. Employee means an individual paid either
		  through a salary or on an hourly or per visit basis and a W2 is issued on
		  his/her behalf. An "employee" also refers to a volunteer under the jurisdiction
		  of the hospice.
I. Health Facility
		  Services is the facility licensing division of the Department.
J. Hospice Agency means any agency, person,
		  partnership, association, corporation, or other organization whether public or
		  private, proprietary, or non- profit, that provides hospice service.
K. Hospice or hospice care means an
		  autonomous, centrally administered, medically directed, coordinated program
		  providing a continuum of home, outpatient, and home-like inpatient care for the
		  terminally ill patient and family, employing an interdisciplinary team to
		  assist in providing palliative and supportive care to meet the special needs
		  arising out of the physical, emotional, spiritual, social and economic stresses
		  which are experienced during the final stages of illness and during dying and
		  bereavement, with such care being available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and
		  provided on the basis of need regardless of ability to pay
L. Informed Consent specifies the type of
		  care and services agreed upon by the hospice patient or the patient's
		  representative.
M. In-patient
		  Direct Care Hospice means a licensed hospice facility that provides direct
		  in-patient care to the terminally ill.
N. Functional Program describes those
		  services to be provided by the Hospice for the operation of the
		  facility.
O. Registered Nurse (RN)
		  means a person licensed in the State of Arkansas as a registered
		  nurse.
P. Representative means a
		  person who is, because of the patient's mental or physical incapacity,
		  authorized in accordance with State law to execute or revoke an election for
		  hospice care or terminate medical care on behalf of the terminally ill
		  patient.
Q. Satellite Office or
		  Alternate Delivery Site - An approved location or site from which a hospice
		  provides services within a portion of the total geographic area served by the
		  parent hospice agency.
R. Service
		  Area - The geographic land area for which the agency shall be licensed
		  consistent with the agency's Permit of Approval (POA) or the service area of
		  record prior to the requirement for a POA.
S. Social Worker means a person who has at
		  least a Bachelor's Degree from a school accredited or approved by the Council
		  on Social Work Education and is licensed by the State of Arkansas as a Social
		  Worker.
T. Terminally ill means
		  that the patient is in the last phases of an incurable illness or condition and
		  has a limited prognosis.