Section 23-17.4-08 - Rules and standards1. The department shall adopt rules establishing minimum standards for hospice programs, including: a. Compliance with the standards of section 23-17.4-07.b. The number and qualifications of persons providing direct hospice services.c. The qualifications of those persons or entities contracted with to provide indirect hospice services.d. Palliative and supportive care and bereavement counseling provided to hospice patients and their families.e. Hospice services provided on an inpatient basis.f. Utilization review of hospice patient care.g. The quality of care provided to hospice patients.h. Procedures for the accurate and centralized maintenance of records on hospice services provided to hospice patients and their families.i. The use of volunteers in the hospice program, and the training of those volunteers.j. The rights of the hospice patient and the hospice patient's family.2. To avoid duplication in rules, the department shall incorporate rules applicable to facilities licensed by the state as hospitals, skilled nursing homes, intermediate care facilities, and organizations licensed by the state as home health agencies which are also applicable to hospice programs in the rules to govern hospices. A person who seeks to license, establish, or operate a hospice program and who has a pre-existing valid license to operate a hospital, skilled nursing home, intermediate care facility, or home health agency is in compliance with those rules which are applicable to both a hospice and the facility for which it has a license.