Code of Massachusetts Regulations › 105 CMR - DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH › Title 105 CMR 141.000 - Licensure of Hospice Programs › Section 141.020 - Definitions

Current through Register 1525, July 5, 2024
The following terms as used in
				105 CMR 141.000 shall be
				interpreted as follows, unless the context or subject matter clearly requires a
				different interpretation:
Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments
				(CLIA)
means the federal requirements governing clinical
				laboratory testing pursuant to 42 CFR Part 493 .
Commissioner
means the Commissioner of
				Public Health or the Commissioner's.
Department
means the Massachusetts
				Department of Public Health.
Direct Service Volunteer
shall mean a
				lay or professional person who offers services to a hospice without
				compensation and whose primary volunteer activities are contact with and
				support of hospice patients/families.
Reimbursement for a volunteer's expenses in providing services
				shall not be considered compensation. A direct service volunteer is considered
				one of the hospice's personnel.
Governing Body
shall mean any of the
				following:
(1) The board of directors or trustees of a hospice which is a
				not-for-profit corporation;
(2) The board of directors or trustees of a hospice which is a
				for-profit corporation;
(3) The proprietor or owners of a hospice which is a solely
				owned business or partnership; or
(4) The policy making body of a hospice which is operated by a
				government agency, or the policy making body or agency head of the government
				agency.
Hospice
or
Hospice
				Program
means palliative and supportive care and other services
				provided by an interdisciplinary team under the direction of an identifiable
				hospice administration to terminally ill patients with a limited life
				expectancy and their families. Services shall be provided to meet the physical,
				emotional, and spiritual needs experienced during the course of their illness,
				death, and bereavement at home, in the community, and in facilities. Such
				services shall include, but not be limited to, physician's services, nursing
				care provided by or under the supervision of a registered nurse, social
				services, volunteer services, and counseling services provided by professional
				or volunteer staff under professional supervision. Hospice is a centrally
				coordinated program that ensures continuity and consistency of care provided by
				a hospice program directly through an inpatient facility operating under its
				hospice license or through an agreement. For the purposes of
				105 CMR 141.000, a hospice
				program shall not include a hospice program operated by the Commonwealth or the
				United States government.
Hospice Inpatient Facility
means a
				palliative care facility that cares solely for hospice patients requiring
				short-term, general inpatient or respite care and is owned and operated
				directly by a hospice program under the license issued to that program pursuant
				to M.G.L. c. 111, § 57D.
Inpatient Care or Services
means
				short-term, general inpatient care provided either through a contract
				arrangement in a hospital or long term care facility or directly by a hospice
				program in its hospice inpatient facility to provide pain control and symptom
				management that cannot be accomplished in the home or community.
Licensee
means any person holding a
				license to operate a hospice. In the case of a licensee which is not a natural
				person, the term
Licensee
shall also mean any
				shareholder owning 5% or more of any class of the outstanding stock; any
				limited partner owning 5% or more of the partnership interests and any general
				partner of a partnership licensee; any trustee of any trust licensee; any sole
				proprietor of any licensee which is a sole proprietorship; any mortgagee in
				possession; and any executor or administrator of any licensee which is an
				estate.
Palliative Care
means the care of
				patients diagnosed with progressive disease for whom the focus is the relief of
				suffering. Palliative care promotes optimal relief of pain and other physical
				symptoms and enhances the patient and family's quality of life through support
				for emotional, social and spiritual priorities. A hospice inpatient facility
				shall not directly provide care such as surgery that is commonly considered
				acute care appropriately provided solely by a hospital licensed to provide
				medical/surgical services.
Patient
is an individual in the
				terminal stage of illness who, alone or in conjunction with a family member or
				members, has voluntarily requested admission and been accepted into a
				hospice.
Patient/Family
is the unit identified
				as the recipient of hospice care which consists of the patient and those
				individuals who are closely linked with the patient including the immediate
				family, the primary care giver and individuals with significant personal
				ties.
Pediatric Patient
means a person
				younger than 19 years old.
Physician
means an individual
				registered by the Board of Registration in Medicine under M.G.L. c.112, §
				2 as a qualified physician.
Primary Care Giver
means a person
				designated by the patient who is responsible for the patient's care and support
				in the home on a 24-hour basis.
Primary Care Provider
means a health
				care professional qualified to provide general medical care for common health
				care problems, who supervises, coordinates, prescribes or otherwise provides or
				proposes health care services, initiates referrals for specialist care and
				maintains continuity of care within the scope of practice.
Registered Nurse
means an individual
				registered under M.G.L. c. 112, § 74.
Residential Hospice Services
means
				hospice services provided by a hospice to its patients at a location under the
				control of the hospice, other than a hospice inpatient facility, or in a
				patient's home or nursing home, rest home or hospital licensed by the
				Department or operated by the Commonwealth.
Respite Care
means hospice services
				provided in a patient's home, hospital, long term care facility or hospice
				inpatient facility to relieve temporarily the patient's family or other
				caregivers from unforeseen emergencies or the daily demands of caring for the
				patient.
Social Worker
means an individual who
				is currently licensed to practice social work in Massachusetts pursuant to
				M.G.L. c. 112, § 131 under the licensure categories of Licensed
				Independent Practitioner of Clinical Social Work, or Licensed Certified Social
				Worker or Licensed Social Worker.
Transfer of Ownership
means but is not
				limited to the following transfers of ownership of a hospice:
(1) a transfer of a majority interest in the ownership of a
				hospice;
(2) in the case of a for profit corporation, transfer of a
				majority of any class of the stock thereof;
(3) in the case of a partnership, transfer of a majority of the
				partnership interest;
(4) in the case of a trust, change of the trustee or a majority
				of trustees; or
(5) in the case of a non-profit corporation, such changes in
				the corporate membership and/or trustees as the Department determines to
				constitute a shift in control of the hospice.
A transfer of ownership shall also be deemed to have occurred
				where foreclosure proceedings have been instituted by a mortgagee in
				possession.
Transfer of Ownership
also means any
				change in the ownership interest or structure of the hospice or the hospice's
				organization or parent organization(s) that the Commissioner determines to
				effect a change in control of the operation of the hospice.