Rule 111-8-62-.03 - DefinitionsIn these rules, unless the context otherwise requires, the words, phrases and symbols shall mean the following:
(a) "Abuse" means any intentional or grossly negligent act or series of acts or intentional or grossly negligent omission to act which causes injury to a resident, including but not limited to, assault or battery, failure to provide treatment or care, or sexual harassment of the resident.(b) "Activities of daily living" means bathing, shaving, brushing teeth, combing hair, toileting, dressing, eating, laundering, cleaning private living space, managing money, writing letters, shopping, using public transportation, making telephone calls, grooming, obtaining appointments, engaging in leisure and recreational activities, or other similar activities.(c) "Administrator" means the manager designated by the governing body as responsible for the day-to-day management, administration and supervision of the personal care home, who may also serve as the on-site manager and responsible staff person except during periods of his or her own absence.(d) "Ambulatory Resident" means a resident who has the ability to move from place to place by walking, either unaided or aided by prosthesis, brace, cane, crutches, walker or hand rails, or by propelling a wheelchair or scooter; who can respond to an emergency condition, whether caused by fire or otherwise, and escape with minimal human assistance such as guiding a resident to an exit, using the normal means of egress.(e) "Applicant" means any of the following:1. When the personal care home is owned by a sole proprietorship, the individual proprietor shall be the applicant for the license, complete the statement of responsibility and serve as the licensee.2. When the personal care home is owned by a partnership, the general partners shall be the applicant for the license, complete the statement of responsibility and serve as the licensee.3. When the personal care home is owned by an association or limited liability company (LLC), the governing body of the association or LLC shall authorize the application for the license and complete the statement of responsibility and the association shall serve as the licensee.4. When the personal care home is owned by a corporation, the governing body of the corporation shall authorize the application for the license and complete the statement of responsibility and the corporation shall serve as the licensee.(f) "Assisted living care" means the specialized care and services provided by an assisted living community which includes the provision of personal services, the administration of medications by a certified medication aide, the provision of assisted self-preservation, and the provision of limited nursing services.(g) "Certificate" means a certificate issued by the Department to operate a memory care center in a licensed assisted living community or personal care home.(h) "Chemical Restraint" means a psychopharmacologic drug that is used for discipline or convenience and is not required to treat medical symptoms.(i) "Department" means the Georgia Department of Community Health operating through the Division of Healthcare Facility Regulation.(j) "Direct care staff person" means any employee, facility volunteer or contract staff who provides to residents any personal services, including but not limited to, medication administration or assistance, assistance with ambulation and transfer, and essential activities of daily living such as eating, bathing, grooming, dressing, and toileting.(k) "Disabled individual" means an individual that has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities and who meets the criteria for a disability under state or federal law.(l) "Employee" means any person, other than a director, utilized by a personal care home to provide personal services to any resident on behalf of the personal care home or to perform at any facilities of the personal care home any duties which involve personal contact between that person and any paying resident of the personal care home.(m) "Exploitation" means an unjust or improper use of another person or the person's property through undue influence, coercion, harassment, duress, deception, false representation, false pretense, or other similar means for one's own personal advantage.(n) "Governing Body" means the person or group of persons as defined in Georgia law who maintain and control the home and who are legally responsible for the operation of the home.(o) "Health services" means the specialized assistance that may be provided by or at the direction of either licensed healthcare professionals, such as doctors, nurses, physical therapists or through licensed healthcare programs, such as home health agencies, hospices and private home care providers to address health needs that the home is not authorized by law or regulations to provide.(p) "Injury" as used in the definition of abuse means a wrong or harm caused by an individual to a resident which is manifested by a physical or behavioral reaction or change in the appearance or actions of the resident, such as, but not limited to, reddened or bruised skin not related to routine care, crying, startling or cowering reaction by the resident and malnutrition or pressure ulcers, such as skin breakdowns, for which the home has not provided proper care.(q) "Legal Surrogate" means a duly appointed person who is authorized to act, within the scope of the authority granted under the legal surrogate's appointment, on behalf of a resident who is adjudicated or certified incapacitated. The legal surrogate may act on a resident's behalf where a resident has not been adjudicated as incapacitated provided that the action is consistent with the resident's wishes and intent and is within the scope of the authority granted. Where such authority is exercised pursuant to a Power of Attorney executed by a resident, the facility must maintain a copy of this document in the resident's files. The resident's duly appointed legal surrogate(s) shall have the authority to act on the resident's behalf as established by written applicable federal and state of Georgia law, and shall be entitled to receive information relevant to the exercise of his or her authority. No member of the governing body, administration, or staff of the personal care home or affiliated personal care homes or their family members may serve as the legal surrogate for a resident.(r) "Limited nursing services" means the assessment of the physical, mental, and emotional status to determine the appropriate level of care for an individual; the performance of health maintenance activities, as defined in division (a)(9)(C)(ii) of Code Section 43-26-12; and the provision of any nursing care within the direct care staff person's scope of practice that can be completed within seven days or intermittently.(s) "Medical services" means services which may be provided by a person licensed pursuant to Article II of Chapter 34 of Title 43 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated. or appropriately licensed and supervised nurse practitioners and physicians assistants.(t) "Memory care services" means the additional watchful oversight systems, program, activities and devices that are required for residents who have cognitive deficits which may impact memory, language, thinking, reasoning, or impulse control, and which place the residents at risk of eloping, i.e., engaging in unsafe wandering activities outside the home.(u) "Memory care center" means the freestanding or incorporated specialized unit within a personal care home or assisted living community that either: (i) holds itself out as providing additional or specialized care to persons with diagnoses of probably Alzheimer's or other dementias or with cognitive deficits that may place the resident at risk; or (ii) charges higher rates for care for residents with Alzheimer's or other dementias than for care to other residents.(v) "Non-Family Adult" means a resident 18 years of age or older who is not related by blood within the third degree of consanguinity or by marriage to the person responsible for the management of the personal care home or to a member of the governing body.(w) "Nursing services" means those services which may be rendered by a person licensed pursuant to Articles I and 2 of Chapter 26 of Title 43 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated.(x) "On-site manager" means the administrator or person designated by the administrator as responsible for carrying on the day-to-day management, supervision, and operation of the personal care home, who may also serve as the responsible staff person except during periods of his or her own absence.(y) "Owner" means any individual or any person affiliated with a corporation, partnership, or association with 10 percent or greater ownership interest in the facility providing care to persons under the license of the facility in this state and who: 1. purports to or exercises authority of the owner in a facility;2. applies to operate or operates a facility;3. maintains an office on the premises of a facility;4. resides at a facility;5. has direct access to persons receiving care at a facility;6. provides direct personal supervision of facility personnel by being immediately available to provide assistance and direction during the time such facility services are being provided; or7. enters into a contract to acquire ownership of a facility.(z) "Permit" or "Regular Permit" means the authorization granted by the Department to the governing body to operate a Personal Care Home.(aa) "Personal Care Home", "home" or "facility" means any dwelling, whether operated for profit or not, which undertakes through its ownership or management to provide or arrange for the provision of housing, food service, and one or more personal services for two or more adults who are not related to the owner or administrator by blood or marriage.(bb) "Personal Services" includes, but is not limited to, individual assistance with or supervision of self-administered medication, assistance with ambulation and transfer, and essential activities of daily living such as eating, bathing, grooming, dressing, and toileting.(cc) "Physician" means an individual who is currently licensed to practice medicine in the State of Georgia. For purposes of these rules, it shall be acceptable for any services required to be performed by a physician to be performed by any other licensed medical professional (i.e., Nurse Practitioner, Physician Assistant, etc.) who is permitted to provide such services under applicable state scope of practice rules and regulations.(dd) "Proxy caregiver" means an unlicensed person or a licensed health care facility that has been selected by a disabled individual or a person legally authorized to act on behalf of such individual to serve as such individual's proxy caregiver and meets the requirements contained in the Rules and Regulations for Proxy Caregivers Used in Licensed Healthcare Facilities, Chapter 111-8-100.(ee) "Physical Restraints" are any manual or physical device, material, or equipment attached or adjacent to the resident's body that the individual cannot remove easily which restricts freedom or normal access to one's body. Physical restraints include, but are not limited to, leg restraints, arm restraints, hand mitts, soft ties or vests, and wheelchair safety bars. Also included as restraints are practices employed by the home which function as a restraint, such as tucking in a sheet so tightly that a bedbound resident cannot move, bedrails, or chairs that prevent rising, or placing a wheelchair-bound resident so close to a wall that the wall prevents the resident from rising. Wrist bands or devices on clothing that trigger electronic alarms to warn staff that a resident is leaving a room do not, in and of themselves, restrict freedom of movement and should not be considered as restraints.(ff) "Plan of Correction" means the written plan prepared in response to cited rule violations which identify by date certain the specific actions that will be taken by the personal care home to come into compliance with applicable rules.(gg) "Representative" means a person who voluntarily, with the resident's written authorization, may act upon resident's direction with regard to matters concerning the health and welfare of the resident, including being able to access personal records contained in the resident's file and receive information and notices pertaining to the resident's overall care and condition. This written authorization may take the form of an advance directive.(hh) "Resident" means any non-family adult receiving or requiring personal assistance and residing in a personal care home.(ii) "Responsible Staff Person" means the employee designated by the administrator or on-site manager as responsible for supervising the operation of the home during periods of temporary absence of the administrator or on-site manager.(jj) "Self-administration of medications" or "self-administered medications" means those prescription or over-the-counter drugs that the resident personally chooses to ingest or apply where the resident has been assessed and determined to have the cognitive skills necessary to articulate the need for the medications and generally knows the times the medications are to be taken, and physical characteristics of medications to be taken.(kk) "Self-preservation" means the ability to respond to an emergency condition, whether caused by fire or otherwise, and escape the emergency without physical, hands-on assistance from staff. The resident may move from place to place by walking, either unaided or aided by prosthesis, brace, cane, crutches, walker or hand rails, or by propelling a wheelchair or scooter.Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. R. 111-8-62-.03
O.C.G.A. §§ 31-2-7, 31-2-8, 31-2-9, 31-7-2.1, 31-7-1et seq., 31-8-80et seq.
Original Rule entitled "Definitions" adopted. F. Nov. 19, 2009; eff. Dec. 9, 2009.Amended: F. Dec. 19, 2012; eff. Jan. 8, 2013.Amended: F. Apr. 16, 2018; eff. May 6, 2018.Amended: F. Feb. 28, 2020; eff. Mar. 19, 2020.Amended: F. Aug. 24, 2021; eff. Sept. 13, 2021.