(1) Criteria for admission and retention of residents in a home are as follows:
(a) Persons admitted to a personal care home must be at least 18 years of age.
(b) Except for aging in place exceptions, the home is permitted to admit and retain only ambulatory residents who are capable of self-preservation with minimal assistance, i.e. staff may assist the resident in transferring from a sitting or reclining position and provide verbal directions to residents who are able to self-propel to the nearest exit.
(c) Aging in Place Exceptions. The home may allow up to three (3) non-ambulatory residents to remain in the home to support an aging in place strategy that is in the best interests of the resident, subject to the requirements herein. These aging in place exceptions may be revoked by the Department at any time, as part of the survey process, if the facility fails to meet any of the following criteria:
(i) The resident has not experienced any significant change in a physical or medical condition which would make continued placement in the facility inappropriate;
(ii) The facility maintains responsibility for meeting resident needs for continuing care provided within the scope of services the personal care home is licensed to deliver;
(iii) The resident remains under hospice services (if the resident was under such services at the time of the aging in place decision);
(iv) The facility monitors its performance of fire drills to ensure that it can safely evacuate all of the residents at any time in 13 minutes or less;
(v) The facility increases the number of documented fire drills to a minimum of one fire drill per month, covering all shifts, as long as one or more residents in the facility are non-ambulatory;
(vi) The facility notifies the local fire department in writing within two (2) weeks of the change in the resident's status to aging in place so that there is local awareness of the presence of a non-ambulatory resident at the home;
(vii) The facility ensures sufficient staff on all shifts to support the safe and timely evacuation of all residents in the event of an emergency; and
(viii) The facility is in substantial compliance with the department's rules and is not subject to any pending enforcement action by the department.
(d) The home must not admit, or retain persons who require the use of physical or chemical restraints, isolation, or confinement for behavioral control.
(e) No home is permitted to admit residents who either require continuous medical services or continuous nursing care and treatment.
(f) Medical, nursing, health or therapeutic services required on a periodic basis, or for short-term illness, must not be provided as services of the home. When such services are required, they must be purchased by the resident or the resident's representative or legal surrogate, if any, from appropriately licensed providers managed independently from the home. The home may assist in arrangement for such services, but not provision of those services.
(2) No home is permitted to admit or retain a resident who needs care beyond which the home is permitted to provide.
(3) The administrator or on-site manager of a home must conduct an interview with the applicant and/or representative or legal surrogate, if any, of the applicant to ascertain that the home can meet the applicant's needs. The administrator or on-site manager must obtain a report of physical examination conducted by a by a licensed physician, nurse practitioner or physician's assistant dated within 30 days prior to the date of admission using the specific report of physical examination form made available by the Department on its website to assess whether the home can meet the applicant's needs. Where a home admits a resident without the required physical examination pursuant to a specific request for an emergency placement made by a governmental agency responsible for adult protective service, local law enforcement or a case manager, the home must retain documentation of the need for the emergency placement and obtain a copy of a physical examination within 14 days following the emergency admission. The required report of physical examination form must be completed in its entirety.
