32.1-162.1 - Definitions.
§ 32.1-162.1. Definitions.
As used in this article unless a different meaning or construction is clearlyrequired by the context or otherwise:
"Hospice" means a coordinated program of home and inpatient care provideddirectly or through an agreement under the direction of an identifiablehospice administration providing palliative and supportive medical and otherhealth services to terminally ill patients and their families. A hospiceutilizes a medically directed interdisciplinary team. A hospice program ofcare provides care to meet the physical, psychological, social, spiritual andother special needs which are experienced during the final stages of illness,and during dying and bereavement. Hospice care shall be available twenty-fourhours a day, seven days a week.
"Hospice facility" means an institution, place, or building owned oroperated by a hospice provider and licensed by the Department to provideroom, board, and appropriate hospice care on a 24-hour basis, includingrespite and symptom management, to individuals requiring such care pursuantto the orders of a physician. Such facilities with 16 or fewer beds areexempt from Certificate of Public Need laws and regulations. Such facilitieswith more than 16 beds shall be licensed as a nursing facility or hospitaland shall be subject to Certificate of Public Need laws and regulations.
"Hospice patient" means a diagnosed terminally ill patient, with ananticipated life expectancy of six months or less, who, alone or inconjunction with designated family members, has voluntarily requestedadmission and been accepted into a licensed hospice program.
"Hospice patient's family" shall mean the hospice patient's immediate kin,including a spouse, brother, sister, child or parent. Other relations andindividuals with significant personal ties to the hospice patient may bedesignated as members of the hospice patient's family by mutual agreementamong the hospice patient, the relation or individual, and the hospice team.
"Identifiable hospice administration" means an administrative group,individual or legal entity that has a distinct organizational structure,accountable to the governing authority directly or through a chief executiveofficer. This administration shall be responsible for the management of allaspects of the program.
"Inpatient" means the provision of services, such as food, laundry,housekeeping, and staff to provide health or health-related services,including respite and symptom management, to hospice patients, whether in ahospital, nursing facility, or hospice facility.
"Interdisciplinary team" means the patient and the patient's family, theattending physician, and the following hospice personnel: physician, nurse,social worker, and trained volunteer. Providers of special services, such asclergy, mental health, pharmacy, and any other appropriate allied healthservices may also be included on the team as the needs of the patient dictate.
"Palliative care" means treatment directed at controlling pain, relievingother symptoms, and focusing on the special needs of the patient and familyas they experience the stress of the dying process, rather than the treatmentaimed at investigation and intervention for the purpose of cure orprolongation of life.
(1981, c. 346; 2007, c. 397.)