For the purposes of this article, the following definitions shall apply:

(a)  “Hospice” means a specialized form of multidisciplinary health care which is designed to provide palliative care, alleviate the physical, emotional, social and spiritual discomforts of an individual who is experiencing the last phases of life due to the existence of a terminal disease, and to provide supportive care for the primary care giver and the family of the hospice patient, and which meets all of the following criteria:

(1)  Considers the patient and the patient’s family, in addition to the patient, as the unit of care.

(2)  Utilizes a multidisciplinary team to assess the physical, medical, psychological, social, and spiritual needs of the patient and the patient’s family.

(3)  Requires the multidisciplinary team to develop an overall plan of care and to provide coordinated care, which emphasizes supportive services such as home care, pain control, and limited inpatient services. Limited inpatient services are intended to ensure both continuity of care and appropriateness of services for those patients who cannot be managed at home because of acute complications or the temporary absence of a capable primary care giver.

(4)  Provides for the palliative medical treatment of pain and symptoms associated with a terminal illness but does not provide for efforts to cure disease.

(5)  Provides for bereavement following death to assist the family to cope with social and emotional needs associated with the death of the patient.

(6)  Actively utilizes volunteers in the delivery of hospice services.

(7)  To the extent appropriate, based on the medical needs of the patient, provides services in the patient’s home or primary place of residence.

(b)  “Palliative care” means interventions that focus primarily on reduction or abatement of pain and other disease-related symptoms, rather than treatment aimed at investigation and intervention for the purpose of cure or prolongation of life.

(c)  “Primary care giver” means the individual who is identified as the primary person charged with responsibility for the care of the hospice patient who agrees to accept that responsibility. The individual designated may be a family member, a friend or an individual hired by the hospice patient but shall be an individual who is actually available to provide 24-hour coverage for care of the hospice patient. However, it shall not be necessary that the individual reside in the hospice patient’s home.

(d)  “Primary place of residence” means the patient’s long-term residence and includes the patient’s home, a friend’s home, a congregate living health facility, a hospice residential care facility, or a skilled nursing facility if the patient resides there on a permanent full-time basis.

(e)  “Special hospital: hospice” means a health facility which is a component part of a hospice, as defined in subdivision (a), and which provides general inpatient care, as defined in federal Medicare program regulations adopted pursuant to Section 1861(dd)(2) and Section 1814(a)(7) of the federal Social Security Act.

(f)  “Terminal illness” means a medical condition resulting in a life expectancy of the patient of six months, or less.

(Added by Stats. 1989, Ch. 1, Sec. 2. Effective January 13, 1989.)