C.M.R. 10, 144, ch. 119, 1 - GENERAL DEFINITIONS
The following terms used in these regulations shall have the meanings specified.
1.
Activities of Daily Living (ADL): means the functions or tasks for
self-care which are performed either independently or with supervision or
assistance. Activities of Daily Living include at least mobility, transferring,
ambulating, grooming, bathing, dressing, eating and toileting.
2.
Acute Care Services: are
services provided to address severe, significant or serious illness.
3.
Administrator: is a person
having the authority and responsibility for the operation of the home health
care agency and for staff performance in accordance with applicable
requirements and policies of the agency. The administrator is a licensed
physician, registered nurse, or an individual who has training and experience
in health services administration, with at least one (1) year of supervisory or
administrative experience in home health care services or related health
programs.
4.
Advanced
Directive: means a document signed by the client, guardian or durable
power of attorney, specifying the scope of treatments and/or procedures that
are not to be carried out by others in the event that the client becomes unable
to provide that direction. This document must be in compliance with the Federal
1990 Patient Self Determination Act (Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act, Section
4206 ) and the Maine Uniform Rights of the Terminally Ill Act (Title 18-A Maine
Revised Statutes Annotated § 5-801et seq.).
5.
Agency Contracting or Arranging for
Home Health Care Services: means an agency whose employees do not
directly provide home health care services in the home. These agencies develop
contractual agreements with licensed or legally exempted home health care
agencies for the provision of home health care services. Agencies that contract
or arrange for home health care services to be delivered, but whose employees
do not directly provide home health cue services, shall be exempt from the
provisions of these regulations.
6.
Applicant: means the individual who signs the application for a
home health care service license. The applicant must be the individual who has
the ultimate responsibility for ensuring that a facility operates in compliance
with these regulations.
7.
Branch Office: means a location or site from which a home health
care services agency provides services within a portion of the total geographic
area served by the parent agency. The branch office is part of the home health
care services agency and is located sufficiently close to share administration,
supervision, and services in a manner that renders it unnecessary for the
branch independently to meet the State Home Health Care Services Licensing
Regulations.
8.
Bylaws: means a set of rules adopted by the home health care
services agency for governing the agency's operation.
9.
Certified Nursing Assistant
(CNA): means a person whose duties are assigned by a registered
professional nurse and who:
a. Has
successfully completed a training program or course with a curriculum
prescribed by the Maine State Board of Nursing, holds a certificate of training
from that program or course and is listed on the Maine Registry of Certified
Nursing Assistants, or
b. Was
certified before September 29, 1987 and is listed on the Maine Registry of
Certified Nursing Assistants.
10.
Clinical Note: is a signed
and dated clinical notation made at each patient visit by each health care
staff person who renders a service to the patient. The clinical note shall be
written or dictated on the day the service is rendered and shall be
incorporated within a week into the patient's medical/health record according
to the facility's policies and procedures The clinical note may include, but
shall not be limited to:
a. A flow sheet, a
written description of signs and symptoms, treatment and/or medication(s)
administered, the patient's response and any changes in physical or mental
status.
b. Progress note, a
supplemental note concurrent with the plan of care whenever there is a change
in the patient's condition or care which cannot dearly be documented on a flow
sheet.
11.
Commissioner. means the person who heads the Department of Health
and Human Services.
12.
Deeming: A Medicare certified home health agency is deemed to meet
the State licensure requirements if it meets all Federal certification
requirements.
13.
Department: means the Maine Department of Health and Human
Services.
14.
Dietitian: is a person who is registered, or eligible for
registration, by the Commission on Dietetic Registration of the American
Dietetic Association and is licensed by the Maine State Board of
Dietitians.
15.
Director of
Nurses: The Director of Nurses is a person having the authority and
responsibility for the clinical services, in accordance with applicable
requirements and policies of the agency. The Director of Nurses is a registered
nurse currently licensed in the State of Maine, qualified by advanced education
or management experience. The Director of Nurses must have one (1) year of
clinical experience and at least two (2) years of supervisory or administrative
experience in home health care services.
16.
Documented: means written,
signed and dated.
17.
Full
Time Equivalent Employee: is one or more individual(s) who is/are
employed on the basis of at least 37 1/2 hours per week for the home health
care service agency.
18.
Governing Board: means the organization, person or persons
designated to assume legal responsibility for the determination and
implementation of policy and for the management, operation and financial
viability of the facility.
19.
Health Promotion: is any effort or combination of efforts designed
to help bring about or further the development of the state of physical and
mental well-being in individuals.
20.
Home Health Aide: means a
certified nursing assistant who meets both the requirements of this Chapter and
the Code of Federal Regulations
42 CFR, Part
484.4.
21.
Home Health Care Services
Provider: is any business, entity or subdivision thereof, whether public
or private, proprietary or not for profit, that is engaged in providing acute,
restorative, rehabilitative, maintenance, preventive or health promotion
services through professional nursing or another therapeutic service, such as
physical therapy, home health aides, nurse assistants, medical social work,
nutritionist services, or personal care services, either directly or through
contractual agreement, in a patient's/client's place of residence. This term
does not apply to any sole practitioner providing private duty nursing services
or other restorative, rehabilitative, maintenance, preventative or health
promotion services in a patient's/client's place of residence or to municipal
entities providing health promotion services in a patient's/client's place of
residence. This term does not apply to a federally qualified health center or a
rural health clinic as defined in
42
United States Code, Section 1395x, subsection
(aa) (1993) that is delivering case management services or health education in
a patient's/client's place of residence. Beginning October 1, 1991, "home
health care provider" includes any business entity or subdivision there of,
whether public or private, proprietary or nonprofit, that is engaged in
providing speech pathology services.
A Home Health Care Services Provider shall also be referred to as a home health care agency.
22.
Home Health Care Services: are the in-home provision of
professional nursing services, physical and/or occupational therapy, speech
pathology, medical social work, nutritionist services and the supervised
services of licensed practical nurses, home health aides and/or certified nurse
assistants providing treatment and rehabilitation for illness or disability,
aimed at restoring or maintaining independent functioning. These services are
provided directly or through contractual agreement in the patient's/client's
home and must be provided in the State of Maine. All licensed providers of home
health care services must be located in the State of Maine, with a commercial
address. The only exceptions are licensed home health care service providers
located on the borders of Maine/New Hampshire and Maine/Canada.
23.
Home Health Care Services
Hotline: is a toll free number, established within the State of Maine,
to receive complaints and/or questions about home health care
services.
24.
Home Health
Paraprofessional Services: are health care services rendered by home
health aides and certified nurse assistants involving selected technical
nursing or personal care services delegated by registered professional nurses
and supervised by them.
25.
Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL): means the
functions or tasks for self-care which are performed either independently or
with supervision or assistance. IADLs include preparing light and full meals,
light housekeeping, personal laundry, handling money and using a
telephone.
26.
Job
Description: means written specifications developed for each personnel
position in the facility, containing the qualifications, duties, competencies,
responsibilities, and accountability required of employees.
27.
Licensed Health Care
Professionals: are health care providers including physicians,
registered professional nurses, licensed practical nurses, occupational
therapists, speech pathologists, physical therapists, dietitians and social
workers that have been authorized to practice a health care profession in
accordance with state law.
28.
Licensed Practical Nurse: is an individual who possesses a current
license and is authorized to perform tasks and responsibilities for
compensation under the direction of a registered professional nurse, physician,
or dentist, as authorized in Title 32 MRSA, Section2101, et
seq.
29.
Maintenance
Services: are activities designed to keep the patients/clients at their
present level of functioning.
30.
Multidisciplinary Team: is a group of health care professionals
and paraprofessionals that may include, but are not limited to the following:
physicians, registered professional nurses, care managers, physical and
occupational therapists, dietitians, speech pathologists, medical social
workers, licensed practical nurses, certified nursing assistants, and home
health aides. These health care individuals work together in an attempt to meet
the total health care needs of the patient/client in the home.
31.
Occupational Therapist: is
an individual who is currently registered with the American Occupational
Therapist Association and possesses a current license authorized by Title 32
MRSA §2271et seq.
32.
Patient/Client: is a person
who receives home health care services.
33.
Personal Care Services: are
those services provided in a patient's/client's residence by a home health aide
or certified nursing assistant and which are delegated and supervised by a
registered nurse (services provided by a personal care assistant (PCA), as
defined in the Rules for the Home Based Care Program are not included in this
definition).
34.
Physical
Therapist: is an individual who possesses a current license authorized
by Title 32 MRSA §3111et seq.
35.
Plan of Care: is a
systematic, individualized written plan developed by a home health cue services
agency's professional staff in conjunction with the patient/client, family
and/or significant others. This plan of care must be updated as the patient's
needs change. These changes include at least those activities which shall be
provided to the patient by the agency to meet their needs.
36.
Policies: are written
standards which govern the provisions of home health care services.
37.
Preventive Services: are
services provided in the home by health care professionals or paraprofessionals
designed to promote the health of individuals so that illnesses will not
occur.
38.
Procedures:
are specific, written directions to accomplish policies.
39.
Progress Note: means a
written notation, dated and signed by a member of the multidisciplinary team,
that summarizes facts about care furnished and the patient's response during a
given period of time.
40.
Proprietary Agency: means a private profit making agency licensed
by the state.
41.
Protocols: are written guidelines that define the limits and
extent of practice for health care in a home health care services
agency.
42.
Registered
Professional Nurse: is an individual who possesses a current license
authorized by the Maim State Board of Nursing pursuant to Tide 32 MRSA
§2102(5), and 32 M RSA §§ 2101et seq.
43.
Rehabilitative Services: are
services provided by home health care providers which are designed to assist
patients/clients regain their former functional abilities.
44.
Restorative Services: are
services which provide treatment or therapy to improve patient/client health
and functioning in order that he/she may achieve or maintain an optimum level
of self care and independence.
45.
Signature: means at least the first initial and full surname and
title (for example, S. Jones, R.N.) of a person, legibly written, generated by
computer with authorization safeguards, or communicated by a facsimile
communications system (FAX).
46.
Social Worker: is an individual who possesses a current license
authorized by Title 32 MRSA § 705et seq. If the
individual is not a Master's level licensed Social Worker, he/she must be
supervised in accordance with the requirements of the Board of Social
Work.
47.
Speech
Pathologist: is an individual who is currently licensed by the State of
Maine Speech Pathology and Audiology Licensing Board to act as a speech
pathologist pursuant to Tide 32 MRSA § 6020et
seq.
48.
Staff
Education Plan: means a written plan, developed at least annually by
agency professional staff and implemented throughout the year, which describes
a coordinated program for staff education, including inservice programs and on
the job training.
49.
Staff
Orientation Plan: means a written plan for the orientation of each new
employee to the duties and responsibilities of the services to which he/she has
been assigned, as well as to the personnel policies of the facility.
50.
Sub Unit: means a
semi-autonomous organization that:
a. Serves
patients in a geographic area different from that of the parent agency;
and
b. Must independently meet the
Home Health Care Services Regulations because, geographically, the parent
agency is unable to share administration, supervision and services on a daily
basis.
51.
Supervision: means authoritative procedural guidance by a
qualified person for the accomplishment of a function or activity within
his/her sphere of competence, with initial direction and periodic on-site
inspection of the actual act of accomplishing the function or
activity.
52.
Therapeutic
Service: is a healing act based upon a knowledge of disease and of the
remedies employed. Therapeutic services are provided by health care
professionals and paraprofessionals in accordance with the plan of care
developed by a licensed health care professional.
Notes
State regulations are updated quarterly; we currently have two versions available. Below is a comparison between our most recent version and the prior quarterly release. More comparison features will be added as we have more versions to compare.
No prior version found.