W. Va. Code R. § 64-14-2

Current through Register Vol. XLI, No. 45, November 8, 2024

Section 64-14-2 - Definitions

2.1. Definitions incorporated by reference. -- Those terms defined in W. Va. Code §§16-5D-1, et seq., are incorporated herein by reference.

2.2. Abuse. -- The willful infliction of injury, unreasonable confinement, intimidation, or punishment with resulting physical harm, pain, or mental anguish. Abuse also includes the deprivation by an individual, including a caretaker, of goods and services that are necessary to attain or maintain physical, mental, and psychosocial well-being. Instances of abuse of all residents, irrespective of any mental or physical condition, cause physical harm, pain, or mental anguish. It includes verbal abuse, sexual abuse, physical abuse, and mental abuse including abuse facilitated or enabled through the use of technology. Willful, as used in this definition of abuse, means the individual must have acted deliberately, not that the individual must have intended to inflict injury or harm.

2.3. Activities of Daily Living. -- The activities that an individual generally performs regularly in the course of maintaining his or her physical self, such as eating, dressing, oral hygiene, toileting, personal grooming, and moving themselves from one location to another.

2.4. Administration of Medication. -- Assisting a person in the ingestion, application or inhalation of medications, including both prescription drugs and non-prescription drugs.

2.5. Administrator. -- The owner or individual selected by the licensee to be responsible for the day-to-day operation of the assisted living residence.

2.6. Adult Day Care. -- Care and supervision for elderly or disabled adults during daytime hours only.

2.7. Bed Capacity. -- The number of residents an assisted living residence is licensed to house.

2.8. Classification of Standards. -- The designation assigned to the requirements in this rule indicating the level of impact the requirement has on the health, safety, and welfare of the residents. There are three levels used, indicated by Class I, Class II and Class III, with Class I having the most impact and Class III the least.

2.9. Communicable Disease. -- An illness caused by an infectious agent or its toxic product that is transmitted, directly or indirectly, to a susceptible host from an infected person or animal, or through the agency of an intermediate host or a vendor or through the inanimate environment.

2.10. Developmental Disorder. -- A group of disorders in which the predominant disturbance is in the acquisition of cognitive, language, motor, or social skills. The disturbance may involve a general delay, as in mental retardation, or a delay or failure to progress in a specific area of skill acquisition or multiple areas in which there are qualitative distortions of normal development.

2.11. Direct Care Staff. -- Individuals who assist or actually perform activities for residents such as eating, dressing, oral hygiene, toileting, personal grooming, repositioning, ambulating residents from one location to another, or provide care to residents who have one or more inappropriate behaviors that reasonably requires additional staff to control.

2.12. Disability. -- Any limitation of physical, mental, or social activity of an individual as compared with other individuals of similar age, sex, and occupation. It frequently refers to limitation of the usual or major activities, most commonly vocational.

2.13. Exploitation. -- The act or process of taking unjust advantage of another individual for one's own benefit that includes, but is not limited to, the deliberate misplacement or wrongful use of a resident or the resident's belongings or money without the resident's consent.

2.14. Extensive Nursing Care. -- The nursing care required when there is a major deviation from normal in a body system or multiple body systems of such magnitude that the deviations are life threatening and the individual's condition is unstable and unpredictable.

2.15. Functional Needs Assessment. -- Any measurement tool that identifies for the resident and the licensee those services that the licensee will need to obtain or provide for the resident in order to promote the resident's health, comfort, dignity, and independence.

2.16. Health Care Facility. -- A public or privately-owned institution, entity or adult residential facility or any part or unit thereof, that offers or provides health care services, such as personal assistance, supervision, nursing care, or behavioral health care, that are required to be licensed in accordance with state law to provide the services.

2.17. Immediate and Serious Threat. -- A situation that presents a high probability of serious harm or injury to one or more residents. An immediate or serious threat need not result in actual harm to any resident.

2.18. Imminent Danger. -- A situation that could reasonably be expected to immediately cause or contribute to death, serious physical harm, or illness to a resident, household member, or staff before the situation can be eliminated through a plan of correction according to subsection 3.10. of this rule.

2.19. Legal Representative. -- A person chosen by the resident or appointed by an individual or by a duly authorized agency or court, or otherwise authorized by law to exercise some degree of control over a resident's affairs. Legal representatives may have limited authority to act on behalf of the resident. For example, a conservator has responsibility for financial affairs, but not personal affairs such as medical care. Legal representatives include:

2.19.1. A conservator, temporary conservator or limited conservator appointed pursuant to the West Virginia Legal Guardianship and Conservatorship Act, W. Va. Code §§44A-1-1, et seq., within the limits set by the most recent court order;

2.19.2. A guardian, temporary guardian or limited guardian appointed pursuant to the West Virginia Guardianship and Conservatorship Act, W. Va. Code §§44A-1-1, et seq., within the limits set by the most recent court order;

2.19.3. An individual appointed as committee or guardian prior to June 9, 1994, within the limits set by the appointing order and W. Va. Code §44A-11-2(d) and §§44A-1-1, et seq.;

2.19.4. An individual having a medical power of attorney pursuant to the West Virginia Health Care Decisions Act, W. Va. Code §§16-30-1, et seq., within the limits set by law and the appointment;

2.19.5. A representative payee under the U.S. Social Security Act, Title 42 U.S. Code §§301, et seq., within the limits of the payee's legal authority;

2.19.6. A health care surrogate decision-maker appointed pursuant to the West Virginia Health Care Decisions Act, W. Va. Code §§16-30-1, et seq., within the limits set by the appointment;

2.19.7. An individual having a durable power of attorney pursuant to W. Va. Code §39B-1-101, or a power of attorney under common law, within the limits of the appointment;

2.19.8. An individual identified pursuant to W. Va. Code §16-3C-4, to grant consent for HIV-related testing and for the authorization of the release of test results;

2.19.9. A parent or guardian of a minor; or

2.19.10. An individual lawfully appointed in a similar or like relationship of responsibility for a resident under the laws of this state, or another legal jurisdiction, within the limits of the applicable law and appointing authority.

2.20. Licensed Health Care Professional. -- A health care professional currently licensed in West Virginia including, but not limited to, a social worker, dentist, practical nurse, occupational therapist, pharmacist, physical therapist, physician, physician assistant, psychologist, registered professional nurse, or speech-language pathologist.

2.21. Life Care Contract. -- A financial agreement between the licensee and an individual in which the licensee agrees to provide specified care to the individual for the rest of the individual's life.

2.22. Limited and Intermittent. -- No more than two hours of nursing care per day for a period of time no longer than 90 consecutive days per episode.

2.23. Major Incident. -- An event or occurrence, the outcome of which places one or more resident's health and well-being in imminent danger, such as:

2.23.1. A fall, an accident, or another event that seriously injures or threatens the life of the resident;

2.23.2. A resident's death occurring from other than natural causes;

2.23.3. A missing resident who is likely to injure himself or herself, or who needs medication or treatment on a regular basis, and who is likely to have difficulty returning to the assisted living residence on his or her own;

2.23.4. Assault on a resident resulting in injury; and

2.23.5. Other suspected criminal activity or events that cause the disruption of normal assisted living residence activity, including threats or occurrences of extreme violence, explosions, fire, or natural disasters.

2.24. Mental Abuse. -- Includes, but is not limited to, subjecting or exposing a resident to behavior that may result in psychological trauma or injury, including, but not limited to, humiliating, harassing, teasing, or threatening; unreasonably restricting a resident's contact with family, friends, or other residents; unreasonably ignoring a resident's requests; threats of punishment or deprivation; or willfully violating a resident's rights, including confidentiality.

2.25. Mental Disorder. -- An illness that affects the psychological well-being or behavior of an individual to the extent that the individual requires treatment for his or her own welfare or the welfare of others.

2.26. Neglect. -- Failure of the facility, its employees, or service providers to provide goods and services to a resident that are necessary to avoid physical harm, pain, mental anguish, or emotional distress.

2.27. Ombudsman. -- Any person or organization designated by the State Long-Term Care Ombudsman as part of the West Virginia Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program.

2.28. Ongoing Nursing Care. -- Nursing care that continues in excess of 90 consecutive days.

2.29. Residence. -- An assisted living residence as defined in W. Va. Code §16-5D-2.

2.30. Restraint.

2.30.1. Any manual method or physical or mechanical device, material, or equipment attached or adjacent to the resident's body that the resident cannot remove at will and that physically limits, restricts, or deprives the resident of movement or mobility; or

2.30.2. Any drug used to limit movement or mental capacity of a resident for non-medical reasons beyond the requirements of therapeutic treatment.

2.31. Self-Administration of Medications. -- The act of a resident, who is independently capable of reading and understanding the labels of prescribed medication, in opening and accessing a prepackaged container of medication, and accurately identifying and taking the correct dosage of the medication, at the correct time and under the correct circumstances as prescribed by the physician.

2.32. Service Plan. -- A written description of the services that need to be provided to a resident to meet all of the needs identified in his or her functional needs assessment.

2.33. Sexual Abuse. -- Includes, but is not limited to, sexual harassment, sexual coercion, sexual exploitation, sexual assault, or sexual contact. It also includes taking or disseminating photographs, films, audio, or other recordings of a resident, without informed consent, when such items serve no health, well-being, safety, or medical purpose, and would serve to demean or humiliate the resident, including but not limited to, items that contain nudity, sexual and intimate relations, bathing, showering, toileting, or otherwise showing the resident in a compromising position, or agitating the resident to elicit a response, regardless of whether the resident has capacity.

2.34. Significant Change. -- A change in a resident's condition that is major, impacts on more than one area of the resident's health status, and requires intervention by a health care professional.

2.35. Supervision. -- The assumption of varying degrees of responsibility for the safety and well-being of residents including, but not limited to:

2.35.1. Being aware of the resident's whereabouts, to the extent identified as a need by the resident's assessment or service plan;

2.35.2. Monitoring the activities of a resident while on the premises of the residence to ensure the resident's health, safety, and well-being;

2.35.3. Reminding the resident of any important activities of daily living;

2.35.4. Overseeing the administration of medication, if not administering it;

2.35.5. Purchasing of food and other supplies, and meeting nutritional and food needs; and

2.35.6. Arranging for or providing transportation as necessary.

2.36. Verbal Abuse. -- Includes, but is not limited to, the use of oral, written, or gestured language that willfully includes disparaging and derogatory terms to residents or their families, or within their hearing distance, regardless of their age, ability to comprehend, or disability. Examples of verbal abuse include, but are not limited to, threats of harm; saying things to frighten a resident, such as telling a resident that he or she will never be able to see his or her family again; intimidation; humiliation; threats of hostility; or vulgarity.

W. Va. Code R. § 64-14-2