Rhode Island Code of Regulations
Title 216 - Department of health
Chapter 10 - Public Health Administration
Subchapter 10 - Registries
Part 7 - Health Care Quality Program (216-RICR-10-10-7)
Section 216-RICR-10-10-7.2 - Definitions

1. "Clinical outcomes" means information about the results of patient care and treatment.

2. "Core-staffing plan", as used herein, shall mean the projected complement of non- managerial nursing staff that shall be assigned on each shift to a specified patient care unit.

3. "Customer satisfaction" means the degree to which the facility or provider meets or exceeds the patient's/resident's/client's/family's or member's expectations as perceived by the patient/resident/client/family or member by focusing on those aspects of care that the patient/resident/client/family or member can judge.

4. "Department" means the Rhode Island Department of Health.

5. "Director" means the Director of the Department of Health or his or her duly authorized agent.

6. "Health care facility" shall have the same meaning as contained in R.I. Gen. Laws 23-17, as amended, and the regulations promulgated thereunder.

7. "Home care provider" means any person that provides, arranges to provide, offers to provide, or in any other way provides for the delivery of any direct health care services in the home requiring supervision by a registered nurse (RN), but excludes the delivery of direct nursing care by a registered (RN) or licensed practical (LPN) nurse on an on-going basis; and includes services rendered by a licensed health care professional, including but not limited to: a speech pathologist/audiologist, physical, occupational, or respiratory therapist. Also as used herein, "home care provider" includes homemaker services as defined in the Rules and Regulations for the Licensing of Home Nursing Care Providers and Home Care Providers.

8. "Home nursing care provider" means any person that provides, arranges to provide, offers to provide, or in any other way provides for the delivery of direct nursing services in the home by a registered (RN) or practical (LPN) nurse, and provided such services are rendered in accordance with the Rules and Regulations for the Licensing of Home Nursing Care Providers and Home Care Providers.

9. "Hospital" means a health care facility with a governing body, an organized medical staff and a nursing service, providing equipment and services primarily for inpatient care to persons who require definitive diagnosis and treatment for injury, illness or other disabilities or pregnancy. A hospital shall provide psychiatric and/or medical and/or surgical care and at least the following services: dietetic, infection control, medical records, laboratory, pharmaceutical and radiology, except that a psychiatric facility need not provide radiology services.

10. "Non-managerial nursing staff" shall mean registered nurses, licensed practical nurses and/or certified nursing assistants who perform non-managerial direct patient care functions for more than fifty percent (50%) of their scheduled hours on a given patient care unit.

11. "Nursing facility" means a place, however named, or an identifiable unit or distinct part thereof that provides twenty-four (24) hour in-resident nursing, therapeutic, restorative or preventive and supportive nursing care services for two (2) or more residents unrelated by blood or marriage whose condition requires continuous nursing care and supervision.

12. "Patient care unit" shall mean a designated area for assigning patients and staff for which discrete budget and staffing plans exist.

13. "Performance measure" means a quantitative tool that provides an indication of an organization's performance in relation to a specified process or outcome.

14. "Person" means any individual, trust or estate, partnership, corporation (including associations, joint stock companies) state or political subdivision or instrumentality of a state.

15. "Quality of care" means the result or outcome of health care efforts and is also measured using the framework of structure and process.

16. "Reporting program" means an objective feedback mechanism regarding individual or facility performance that can be used internally to support performance improvement activities and externally to demonstrate accountability to the public and other purchasers, payers, and stakeholders.

17. "R.I. Gen. Laws" means the General Laws of Rhode Island, as amended.

18. "Risk-adjusted" means the use of statistically valid techniques to account for patient variables which may include, but need not to be limited to, age, chronic disease history, and physiologic data.