Alaska Administrative Code
Title 7 - Health and Social Services
Part 1 - Administration
Chapter 12 - Facilities and Local Units
Article 7 - Hospice Agencies
7 AAC 12.349 - Definitions

(1) "advance health care directive" means an instruction described in AS 13.52 regarding the provision or nonprovision of health care;

(2) "agency" means hospice agency;

(3) "bereavement counseling" means emotional support services to assist a client's family or caregivers in coping with the client's death;

(4) "client" means an individual with a terminal illness who has been accepted to receive hospice care;

(5) "direct service" means service provided directly to a client receiving services in a hospice program;

(6) "employee" means a paid staff person designated by the hospice agency to provide services to a client or the client's family under the direction of the plan of care for the client; "employee" includes an individual providing services to the client or the client's family under contract with the hospice agency;

(7) "family" means

(8) "full-service hospice agency" means a hospice agency that provides, and charges a fee for, the services described in 7 AAC 12.316;

(9) "hospice home health aide" means an individual employed by or under contract with a hospice agency to provide hospice services as specified in 7 AAC 12.333;

(10) "hospice philosophy" has the meaning given the term in the definition of "hospice services" in AS 47.32.900;

(11) "hospice services" has the meaning given in AS 47.32.900;

(12) "medical director" means a physician or advanced practice registered nurse who oversees the medical components of hospice services and the interdisciplinary team;

(13) "palliative care" means care provided for the reduction or abatement of pain, for physical symptoms, and for psychosocial or spiritual needs of an individual with a terminal illness; "palliative care" includes physician or advanced practice registered nurse services, skilled nursing care, social work services, volunteer services, and bereavement services; "palliative care" does not include treatment provided solely to cure a medical condition or disease or to artificially prolong life; however, treatment that is curative in nature may be provided if the purpose of the treatment is to reduce or abate pain or other symptoms, or to slow the progression or reduce the psychological effects of the terminal illness

(14) "plan of care" means

(15) "program director" means the individual designated by the governing body of a hospice agency to be responsible for the daily operations of the agency;

(16) "respite care" means care provided to an individual with a terminal illness to provide temporary relief to a primary caregiver;

(17) "service area" means the geographical area in which a hospice agency regularly provides services to individuals;

(18) "short-term inpatient care" means care provided to an individual with a terminal illness, in an inpatient setting, for brief periods of time for the purpose of pain control or acute or chronic symptom management;

(19) "terminal illness" means an illness for which an individual has a life expectancy of less than six months if the illness runs its normal course, and for which the individual is no longer receiving curative treatment;

(20) "volunteer" means a trained individual who works for a hospice agency without compensation;

(21) "volunteer hospice agency" means a hospice agency that provides all direct client care at no charge.