North Carolina Administrative Code › Title 10A - HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES › Chapter 13 - NC MEDICAL CARE COMMISSION › Subchapter D - RULES FOR THE LICENSING OF NURSING HOMES › Section .2000 - GENERAL INFORMATION › Section 13D .2001 - DEFINITIONS

Current through Register Vol. 39, No. 2, July 15, 2024
In addition to the definitions set forth in
					 G.S.
					 131E-101, the following definitions shall
					 apply throughout this Subchapter:
(1)
				  "Abuse" means the willful infliction of injury, unreasonable confinement,
				  intimidation or punishment with resulting physical harm, pain, or mental
				  anguish.
(2) "Accident" means an
				  unplanned event resulting in the injury or wounding of a patient or other
				  individual.
(3) "Addition" means an
				  extension or increase in floor area or height of a building.
(4) "Administrator" as defined in
				  G.S.
				  90-276(4).
(5) "Alteration" means any construction or
				  renovation to an existing structure other than repair, maintenance, or
				  addition.
(6) "Brain injury long
				  term care" means an interdisciplinary, intensive maintenance program for
				  patients who have incurred brain damage caused by external physical trauma and
				  who have completed a primary course of rehabilitative treatment and have
				  reached a point of no gain or progress for more than three consecutive months.
				  Brain injury long term care is provided through a medically supervised
				  interdisciplinary process and is directed toward maintaining the individual at
				  the optimal level of physical, cognitive, and behavioral functions.
(7) "Capacity" means the maximum number of
				  patient or resident beds for which the facility is licensed to maintain at any
				  given time.
(8) "Combination
				  facility" means a combination home as defined in
				  G.S.
				  131E-101.
(9) "Comprehensive, inpatient rehabilitation
				  program" means a program for the treatment of persons with functional
				  limitations or chronic disabling conditions who have the potential to achieve a
				  significant improvement in activities of daily living, including bathing,
				  dressing, grooming, transferring, eating, and using speech, language, or other
				  communication systems. A comprehensive, inpatient rehabilitation program
				  utilizes a coordinated and integrated, interdisciplinary approach, directed by
				  a physician, to assess patient needs and to provide treatment and evaluation of
				  physical, psychosocial, and cognitive deficits.
(10) "Department" means the North Carolina
				  Department of Health and Human Services.
(11) "Director of nursing" means a registered
				  nurse who has authority and responsibility for all nursing services and nursing
				  care.
(12) "Discharge" means a
				  physical relocation of a patient to another health care setting; the discharge
				  of a patient to his or her home; or the relocation of a patient from a nursing
				  bed to an adult care home bed, or from an adult care home bed to a nursing
				  bed.
(13) "Existing facility" means
				  a facility currently licensed and built prior to the effective date of this
				  Rule.
(14) "Facility" means a
				  nursing facility or combination facility as defined in this Rule.
(15) "Incident" means any accident, event, or
				  occurrence that is unplanned, or unusual, and has caused harm to a patient, or
				  has the potential for harm.
(16)
				  "Inpatient rehabilitation facility or unit" means a free-standing facility or a
				  unit (unit pertains to contiguous dedicated beds and spaces) within an existing
				  licensed health service facility approved in accordance with G.S. 131E, Article
				  9 to establish inpatient, rehabilitation beds and to provide a comprehensive,
				  inpatient rehabilitation program.
(17) "Interdisciplinary" means an integrated
				  process involving representatives from disciplines of the health care
				  team.
(18) "Licensee" means the
				  person, firm, partnership, association, corporation, or organization to whom a
				  license to operate the facility has been issued. The licensee is the legal
				  entity that is responsible for the operation of the business.
(19) "Medication error rate" means the
				  measure of discrepancies between medication that was ordered for a patient by
				  the health care provider and medication that is administered to the patient.
				  The medication error rate is calculated by dividing the number of errors
				  observed by the surveyor by the opportunities for error, multiplied times
				  100.
(20) "Misappropriation of
				  property" means the deliberate misplacement, exploitation, or wrongful,
				  temporary or permanent use of a patient's belongings or money without the
				  patient's consent.
(21) "Neglect"
				  means a failure to provide goods and services necessary to avoid physical harm,
				  mental anguish, or mental illness.
(22) "New facility" means a facility for
				  which an initial license is sought, a proposed addition to an existing
				  facility, or a proposed remodeled portion of an existing facility that will be
				  built according to construction documents and specifications approved by the
				  Department for compliance with the standards established in Sections.3100,
				  .3200, and.3400 of this Subchapter.
(23) "Nurse Aide" means a person who is
				  listed on the N.C. Nurse Aide Registry and provides nursing or nursing-related
				  services to patients in a nursing home. A nurse aide is not a licensed health
				  professional. Nursing homes that participate in Medicare or Medicaid shall
				  comply with 42 CFR
				  483.35, which is incorporated by reference,
				  including subsequent amendments. The Code of Federal Regulations may be
				  accessed at
https://www.ecfr.gov
.
(24) "Nursing facility" means a nursing home
				  as defined in
				  G.S.
				  131E-101.
(25) "Patient" means any person admitted for
				  nursing care.
(26) "Remodeling"
				  means alterations, renovations, rehabilitation work, repairs to structural
				  systems, and replacement of building systems at a nursing or combination
				  facility.
(27) "Repair" means
				  reconstruction or renewal of any part of an existing building for the purpose
				  of its maintenance.
(28) "Resident"
				  means any person admitted for care to an adult care home part of a combination
				  facility.
(29) "Respite care" means
				  services provided for a patient on a temporary basis, not to exceed 30
				  days.
(30) "Surveyor" means a
				  representative of the Department who inspects nursing facilities and
				  combination facilities to determine compliance with rules, laws, and
				  regulations as set forth in
				  G.S.
				  131E-117; Subchapters 13D and 13F of this
				  Chapter; and 42 CFR Part 483, Requirements for States and Long Term Care
				  Facilities.
(31) "Violation" means
				  a failure to comply with rules, laws, and regulations as set forth in
				  G.S.
				  131E-117 and
				  131D-21; Subchapters 13D and 13F
				  of this Chapter; or 42 CFR Part 483, Requirements for States and Long Term Care
				  Facilities, that relates to a patient's or resident's health, safety, or
				  welfare, or that creates a risk that death, or physical harm may
				  occur.
Authority
					 G.S.
					 131E-104;
RRC objection due to
					 lack of statutory authority Eff. July 13, 1995;
Eff. January 1,
					 1996;
Readopted Eff. July 1, 2016;
Amended Eff. October
					 1, 2021; January 1, 2021.