Minnesota Session Laws - 2000, Regular Session

                            CHAPTER 317-S.F.No. 3549 
                  An act relating to health; modifying the residential 
                  hospice program requirements; amending Minnesota 
                  Statutes 1998, section 144A.48, subdivision 1; 
                  repealing Minnesota Statutes 1998, section 144A.48, 
                  subdivision 6. 
        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
           Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 1998, section 144A.48, 
        subdivision 1, is amended to read: 
           Subdivision 1.  [DEFINITIONS.] For the purposes of this 
        section, the following terms have the meanings given to them: 
           (1) "Core services" means physician services, registered 
        nursing services, medical social services, pastoral care or 
        other counseling services, and volunteer services that are 
        provided either directly by the hospice program or through a 
        service contract or other arrangement; 
           (2) "Hospice patient" means an individual who has been 
        diagnosed as terminally ill with a probable life expectancy of 
        under one year, as documented by the individual's attending 
        physician, and who alone or, when unable, through the hospice 
        patient's family has voluntarily consented to and received 
        admission to a hospice program; 
           (3) "Hospice patient's family" means relatives of the 
        hospice patient, the hospice patient's guardian, primary 
        caregivers, or persons identified by the hospice patient as 
        having significant personal ties; 
           (4) "Hospice program" means palliative and supportive care 
        and other services provided by an interdisciplinary team under 
        the direction of an identifiable hospice administration to 
        terminally ill hospice patients and their families to meet the 
        physical, nutritional, emotional, social, spiritual, and special 
        needs experienced during the final stages of illness, dying, and 
        bereavement, through a centrally coordinated program that 
        ensures continuity and consistency of home and inpatient care 
        provided directly or through an agreement; 
           (5) "Interdisciplinary team" means a group of qualified 
        individuals with expertise in meeting the special needs of 
        hospice patients and their families, including, at a minimum, 
        those individuals who are providers of core services; 
           (6) "Palliative care" means care directed at managing the 
        symptoms experienced by the hospice patient and intended to 
        enhance the quality of life for the hospice patient and the 
        patient's family, but not directed at curing the illness; 
           (7) "Residential hospice facility" means a facility that 
        houses no more than eight hospice patients, located in a 
        residential area in a facility that resembles a single-family 
        home, that directly provides 24-hour residential and support 
        services in a home-like setting for hospice patients as an 
        integral part of the continuum of home care provided by a 
        hospice licensed under subdivision 2, and that houses: 
           (i) no more than eight hospice patients; or 
           (ii) at least nine and no more than 12 hospice patients 
        with the approval of the local governing authority, 
        notwithstanding section 462.357, subdivision 8; and 
           (8) "Volunteer services" means services by volunteers who 
        provide a personal presence that augments a variety of 
        professional and nonprofessional services available to the 
        hospice patient, the patient's family, and the hospice program.  
           Sec. 2.  [REPEALER.] 
           Minnesota Statutes 1998, section 144A.48, subdivision 6, is 
        repealed. 
           Sec. 3.  [EFFECTIVE DATE.] 
           Section 2 is effective on the effective date of rules 
        adopted by the commissioner of health relating to the licensure 
        of residential hospice facilities. 
           Presented to the governor March 30, 2000 
           Signed by the governor April 3, 2000, 2:17 p.m.