Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. R. 111-8-37-.07 - Governing Body

(1) The hospice must have an established and functioning governing body that is responsible for the conduct of the hospice and that provides for effective hospice governance, management, and budget planning.

(2) The governing body must appoint an administrator and delegate to the administrator the authority to operate the hospice in accordance with these rules and management policies established and approved by the governing body.

(3) The governing body must appoint a medical director and delegate to the medical director the authority to establish and approve, in accordance with current accepted standards of care, all patient care policies related to medical care.

(4) The governing body must ensure that no member of the governing body, administration, staff associated or affiliated with the hospice, or family member of staff causes, encourages or coerces any patient or family member of a patient to:

(a) name any person associated or affiliated with the hospice as a beneficiary under a will, trust, or life insurance policy;

(b) take out or otherwise secures a life insurance policy on any patient; or

(c) give or loan anything of value to a member of the governing body, administration, staff associated or affiliated with the hospice or family member of staff.

(5) The governing body must be responsible for determining, implementing, and monitoring the overall operation of the hospice, including the quality of care and services, management, and budget planning. The governing body must:

(a) Be responsible for ensuring the hospice functions within the limits of its current license granted by the Department;

(b) Ensure that the hospice provides coordinated care that includes at a minimum medical, nursing, social, spiritual, volunteer, and bereavement services that meet the needs of the patients;

(c) Ensure that the hospice is staffed and equipped adequately to provide the services it offers to patients, whether the services are provided directly by the hospice or under contract;

(d) Develop and make available to patients and their families, a description of services offered by the hospice, including patient eligibility for the various services and whether the hospice provides palliative care to patients who have not been determined to be terminally ill but have been diagnosed with an advanced and progressive disease;

(e) Ensure the development and implementation of effective policies and procedures that address the management, operation, and evaluation of the hospice, including all patient care services and those services provided by independent contractors;

(f) Ensure there is an individual authorized in writing to act for the administrator during any period the administrator is absent;

(g) Appoint an individual to assume overall responsibility for a quality assurance, utilization, and peer review program for monitoring and evaluating the quality and level of patient care in the hospice on an ongoing basis;

(h) Ensure that hospice advertisements are factual and do not contain any element that might be considered coercive or misleading;

(i) Ensure that hospice care to patients who have been determined to be terminally ill is provided regardless of the patient or the family unit's ability to pay; and

(j) Ensure that there are policies and procedures in place that specify the manner in which transitions across care sites and providers (e.g. hospital to home hospice) will be handled to ensure that communications are effective to address continuity of care issues for the patient.

(6) The governing body shall comply with the Rules and Regulations for Criminal Background Checks, Chapter 111-8-12, as applicable.

Notes

Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. R. 111-8-37-.07

O.C.G.A. §§ 31-7-170 et seq., 31-7-350 et seq.

Original Rule entitled "Governing Body" adopted. F. May 26, 2015; eff. June 15, 2015. Amended: F. Feb. 28, 2020; eff. Mar. 19, 2020.