Code of Maryland Regulations › Title 10 - MARYLAND DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH › Part 5 › Subtitle 54 - SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTAL NUTRITION PROGRAM FOR WOMEN, INFANTS, AND CHILDREN (WIC) › Chapter 10.54.01 - Eligibility, Participation, and Benefits › Section 10.54.01.04 - Definitions

Current through Register Vol. 51, No. 14, July 12, 2024
A. In this chapter,
				  the following terms have the meanings indicated.
B. Terms Defined.
(1) "Applicant" means an individual who has
				  requested or on whose behalf another person has requested WIC benefits in
				  person, either orally or in writing, under the provisions of this
				  chapter.
(2) "Benefits" means the
				  foods prescribed and services provided to a participant by the Program.
(3) "Breastfeeding woman" means a
				  woman up to 1 year postpartum who is breastfeeding her infant.
(4) "Caretaker" means an individual who is
				  responsible for the care and welfare of a participant.
(5) "Caseload" means the participation level that is
				  assigned to a local agency by the State agency.
(6) "Certification" means the implementation
				  of criteria and procedures to assess and document an applicant's eligibility
				  for the Program.
(7) "Certification
				  period" means the time period for which a participant has been authorized by a
				  local agency as eligible for Program benefits.
(8) "Child" means an individual who is 1 year
				  old or older but is younger than 5 years old.
(9) "Clinic" means a local agency facility
				  where an applicant is certified.
(10) "Competent paraprofessional authority"
				  means an individual who:
(a) Does not meet
				  the definition of a competent professional authority;
(b) Successfully completes a WIC training
				  program approved by the State agency; and
(c) Performs certifications under the
				  supervision of a competent professional authority.
(11) Competent Professional Authority.
(a) "Competent professional authority" means
				  an individual who is a:
(i)
				  Physician;
(ii)
				  Nutritionist;
(iii)
				  Dietitian;
(iv) Registered
				  nurse;
(v) Physician's assistant
				  certified by the National Committee on Certification of Physician's Assistants
				  or certified by the State Board of Physician Quality Assurance; or
(vi) State or local medically trained health
				  official.
(b) "Competent
				  professional authority" includes an individual who is:
(i) On the staff of the local agency and
				  authorized by the State agency to serve as a competent professional authority;
				  or
(ii) Not on the staff of the
				  local agency, but who is qualified to provide data upon which a nutritional
				  risk determination is made by a competent professional authority on the staff
				  of the local agency.
(12) "Complementary feeding process" means a
				  nutrition risk that applies to an infant or a child from 4 through 23 months
				  old who has begun to or is expected to begin to:
(a) Consume foods or beverages complementary
				  to breast feeding;
(b) Eat
				  independently;
(c) Be weaned from
				  breast milk or infant formula; or
(d) Transition from a diet specifically
				  intended for infants or toddlers to one based on the Dietary Guidelines for
				  Americans, as updated every 5 years by the United States Department of
				  Agriculture with the United States Department of Health and Human Services
				  under Title III of Public
				  Law 101-445 of the National Nutrition Monitoring
				  and Related Research Act of 1990.
(13) "Day" means a calendar day.
(14) "Disqualification" means the act of
				  ending the Program participation of a participant, whether as a punitive
				  sanction or for administrative reasons.
(15) "Dual participation" means an
				  individual's simultaneous participation in the WIC Program in more than one
				  state, local agency, or clinic, or participation in the WIC Program and in the
				  Commodity Supplemental Food Program funded by the USDA during the same period
				  of time.
(16) "Family" means a
				  group of related or nonrelated individuals who are not residents of an
				  institution but who are living together as one economic unit, except that
				  residents of a homeless facility or an institution may not all be considered as
				  members of a single family.
(17)
				  "Food delivery system" means the method used by a local agency to provide
				  supplemental foods to a participant.
(18) "Food instrument" means an electronic benefits
				  transfer (EBT) card or other document that is used by a participant to obtain
				  supplemental foods.
(19) "Health
				  services" means ongoing, routine, pediatric, and obstetric care or referral for
				  treatment.
(20) "HHS" means the
				  United States Department of Health and Human Services.
(21) Income.
(a) "Income" means gross cash income before
				  deductions for:
(i) Income taxes;
(ii) An employee's Social Security
				  taxes;
(iii) Insurance
				  premiums;
(iv) Bonds;
(v) Housing subsidy in the form of cash or
				  stipend; or
(vi) Cash food
				  subsidy.
(b) "Income"
				  includes:
(i) Monetary compensation for
				  services, including wages, salary, commissions, or fees;
(ii) Net income from farm and nonfarm
				  self-employment;
(iii) Social
				  Security benefits;
(iv) Dividends
				  or interest on savings or bonds, income from estates or trusts, or net rental
				  income;
(v) Public assistance or
				  welfare payments;
(vi) Unemployment
				  compensation;
(vii) Government
				  civilian employee or military retirement pensions, or veterans'
				  payments;
(viii) Private pensions
				  or annuities;
(ix) Alimony or child
				  support payments;
(x) Regular
				  contributions from individuals not living in the household;
(xi) Net royalties;
(xii) Other cash income, which includes, but
				  is not limited to, cash amounts received or withdrawn from any source including
				  savings, investments, trust accounts, and other resources that are readily
				  available to the applicant or the applicant's family; or
(xiii) Cash contributions from others
				  residing in the same living quarters as the applicant.
(c) "Income" does not include payments or
				  benefits excluded under 7 CFR
				  §
													246.7(d)(2)(iv).
(22) "Infant" means an individual
				  younger than 1 year old.
(23)
				  "Instream migrant" means a migrant farm worker or an individual accompanying a
				  migrant farm worker who is traveling and currently employed or seeking
				  employment in seasonal agricultural work that causes the migrant to move from
				  the migrant's home.
(24) "Local
				  agency" means a public or private, nonprofit health or human service agency
				  that provides health services, either directly or through contract.
(25) "Migrant farm worker" means an
				  individual:
(a) Whose principal employment is
				  in agriculture on a seasonal basis;
(b) Who has been employed in agriculture on a
				  seasonal basis within the last 24 months; and
(c) Who establishes, for the purpose of
				  employment in agriculture on a seasonal basis, a temporary home.
(26) "Nutritional risk" means:
(a) Detrimental or abnormal nutritional
				  conditions detectable by biochemical or anthropometric measurements;
(b) Other documented nutritionally related
				  medical conditions;
(c) Dietary
				  deficiencies that impair or endanger health;
(d) Conditions that directly affect the
				  nutritional health of an individual, including alcoholism or drug abuse;
				  or
(e) Conditions that predispose
				  individuals to inadequate nutritional patterns or nutritionally related medical
				  conditions, including but not limited to homelessness and migrancy.
(27) "Nutrition education" means
				  individual or group education sessions and the provision of information and
				  educational materials designed to improve health status, achieve positive
				  change in dietary and physical activity habits, and emphasize relationships
				  between nutrition, physical activity, and health, all in keeping with the
				  individual's personal and cultural preferences.
(28) "Nutritionist" means an individual
				  licensed in Maryland who has a bachelor's or master's degree in nutritional
				  sciences, community nutrition, clinical nutrition, dietetics, public health
				  nutrition, or home economics with an emphasis in nutrition.
(29) "Participant" means a pregnant woman,
				  breastfeeding woman, postpartum woman, infant, or child who is receiving
				  benefits under the Program, and the breastfed infant of a breastfeeding woman
				  participant.
(30) "Participation"
				  means receiving benefits under the Program.
(31) "Participation data" means information concerning
				  the number of:
(a) Individuals who received
				  benefits during a reporting period;
(b) Infants who received no benefits during a
				  reporting period, but who were breastfed by participant breastfeeding women;
				  and
(c) Breastfeeding women who did
				  not receive benefits but whose infant received benefits during the reporting
				  period.
(32) "Postpartum
				  woman" means a woman up to 6 months after the termination of her
				  pregnancy.
(33) "Poverty income
				  guidelines" means the poverty income guidelines prescribed and adjusted
				  annually by HHS.
(34) "Pregnant
				  woman" means a woman who is determined to have one or more embryos or fetuses
				  in utero.
(35) "Program" means the
				  Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC)
				  authorized by 42 U.S.C.
				  §
												1786, the Child Nutrition Act of 1966,
				  as amended.
(36) "Proxy" means an
				  individual who is designated by a participant or a child or infant
				  participant's parent, guardian, or caretaker to receive food instruments and to
				  redeem food benefits for the participant and whose name is on file at the local
				  agency.
(37) "Special nutritional
				  risk applicant" means a migrant farmworker or a migrant farmworker's family, a
				  pregnant woman, or an infant.
(38)
				  "State agency" means the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene's WIC
				  Program.
(39) "Supplemental foods"
				  means those foods containing nutrients determined to be beneficial for a
				  pregnant woman, breastfeeding woman, postpartum woman, infant, or child, as
				  prescribed by the Secretary of the USDA under
				  7 CFR §
												246.10, which is incorporated by reference in
				  Regulation .03 of this chapter.
(40) "USDA" means the United States
				  Department of Agriculture.
(41)
				  "Verification of certification" means a document that provides proof of Program
				  eligibility for the participant who is transferring from one WIC agency to
				  another.