Arkansas Administrative Code › Agency 016 - DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES › Division 24 - Division of Health › Rule 016.24.06-004 - Rules for Hospice in Arkansas

Current through Register Vol. 49, No. 6, June, 2024
SECTION
			 1:
PREFACE
These rules and regulations 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 and Regulations 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 and §
									20-7-123.
SECTION 3:
PURPOSE
To establish rules, regulations and minimum standards for
				hospice programs operating in the State of Arkansas in accordance with Ark.
				Code Ann. §
									20-7-117. 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 regulations 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 and Human Services and Human Services.
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 nonprofit, 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.