Rhode Island Code of Regulations › Title 216 - Department of health › Chapter 20 - Community Health › Subchapter 05 - Maternal and Child Health › Part 3 - WIC Program (216-RICR-20-05-3) › Section 216-RICR-20-05-3.3 - Definitions

Current through June 14, 2024
A. As used in these regulations, the
				  following terms shall have the meaning indicated:
1. "Agreement" means the written document
				  between the Rhode Island Department of Health WIC Program and a local agency
				  which states the responsibilities and obligations of both parties in order to
				  provide the WIC Program. The period covered by the WIC agreement is the Federal
				  fiscal year.
2. "Applicant" means
				  an individual who makes application for WIC Program benefits.
3. "Breastfeeding Women" means women up to
				  one year postpartum who are breastfeeding their infants on average of at least
				  once a day.
4. "Certification"
				  means the use of criteria and procedures to assess and document each
				  applicant's eligibility for the Program.
5. "Children" means persons who have had
				  their first birthday but have not yet attained their fifth birthday.
6. "Clients" means pregnant women,
				  breastfeeding women, postpartum women, infants, and children who are receiving
				  supplemental foods or food instruments under the WIC Program and the breastfed
				  infants of breastfeeding women who are receiving supplemental foods or food
				  instruments under the WIC Program.
7. "Clinic" means a facility where applicants
				  are certified.
8. "Competent
				  Professional Authority (CPA)" means an individual on the staff of the local
				  agency who is authorized to determine nutritional risk and prescribe
				  supplemental foods. The professional qualifications required of competent
				  professional authorities are set forth in Federal Regulations. A competent
				  professional authority is herein considered to be a physician, a nutritionist,
				  a dietician, a registered nurse, a physician's assistant or a state or local
				  medically trained health professional approved by the state agency. Also
				  applies to qualified persons not on the staff of the local agency who are
				  qualified to provide medical/nutritional assessment data.
9. "Confidential health care information"
				  means all information relating to a patient's health care history, diagnosis,
				  condition, treatment or evaluation.
10. "Days" means calendar days except for
				  those time standards which specify working days.
11. "Disqualification" means the act of
				  ending Program participation of a participant, food Vendor, or authorized state
				  or local agency, whether as a punitive sanction or for administrative
				  reasons.
12. "Dual Participation"
				  means simultaneous participation in the Program in one or more than one WIC
				  clinic.
13. "Family" means a group
				  of related or non-related individuals who are living together as one economic
				  unit, except that residents of a homeless facility or an institution shall not
				  all be considered as members of a single family.
14. "FNS" means the Food and Nutrition
				  Service of the United States Department of Agriculture.
15. "Fiscal Year" means the period of 12
				  calendar months beginning 1 October of any calendar year and ending 30
				  September of the following calendar year.
16. "Homeless Facility" means the following
				  types of facilities which provide meal service: A supervised publicly or
				  privately operated shelter (including a welfare hotel, congregate shelter or
				  shelter for victims of domestic violence) designed to provide temporary living
				  accommodations; a facility that provides a temporary residence for individuals
				  intended to be institutionalized; or a public or private place not designed for
				  or normally used as a regular sleeping accommodation for human
				  beings.
17. "Homeless Individual"
				  means one who lacks a fixed and regular nighttime residence or whose primary
				  nighttime residence is one of the following:
a. A supervised publicly or privately
				  operated shelter (including a welfare hotel, congregate shelter or shelter for
				  victims of domestic violence) designed to provide temporary living
				  accommodations;
b. an institution
				  that provides a temporary residence for individuals intended to be
				  institutionalized;
c. a temporary
				  accommodation in the residence of another individual; or
d. a public or private place not designed
				  for, or ordinarily used as a regular sleeping accommodation for human
				  beings.
18. "Income
				  Poverty Guidelines" means 185% of the United States Department of Agriculture
				  (USDA) poverty guidelines.
19.
				  "Infants" means persons under one year of age.
20. "Institution" means any residential
				  accommodation which provides meal service, except private residences and
				  homeless facilities.
21. "Local
				  Agency" means an agency under contract with the Rhode Island Department of
				  Health to provide WIC Program services.
22. "NSA Funds" means Nutrition and
				  Administration funds used to provide WIC services.
23. "Nutrition Education" means individual or
				  group educational sessions and the provision of information and educational
				  materials designed to improve health status, achieve positive change in dietary
				  habits, and emphasize relationships between nutrition and health, all in
				  keeping with the individual's personal, cultural, and socioeconomic
				  preferences.
24. "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 or
d. Conditions that predispose persons to
				  inadequate nutritional patterns or nutritionally related medical
				  conditions.
25.
				  "Participation" means the number of persons who have received supplemental
				  foods or food instruments in the reporting period plus the number of breastfed
				  infants of breastfeeding women who have received supplemental foods or food
				  instruments in the reporting period.
26. "Payee" means the custodial parent or
				  guardian or, if unavailable, the delegated caretaker for an infant or child.
				  Authorized to pick up checks and redeem them for food at authorized Program
				  Vendors.
27. "Postpartum Women"
				  means women up to six months after termination of pregnancy.
28. "Pregnant Women" means women determined
				  to have one or more embryos or fetuses in utero.
29. "Resident" means a person making one's
				  home in a place, who can provide evidence of such residence or who is homeless
				  and living in an authorized WIC homeless facility or institution or is homeless
				  and can show evidence of living and sleeping in a place not designed for or
				  normally used as a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings.
30. "RIDOH" means Rhode Island Department of
				  Health.
31. "State agency" means
				  Rhode Island Department of Health.
32. "Vendor" means a grocer, pharmacy, small
				  corner store that has contracted with RIDOH WIC Program to provide WIC
				  authorized foods to WIC clients and accepting WIC checks as payment.
33. "WIC Program" means the Special
				  Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children.
34. "WIC Check" means a check issued by the
				  Rhode Island Department of Health WIC Program specifying certain WIC allowed
				  foods which is used by a participant to obtain the specified foods.