(a) An emergency
case involves an eligible person who requires immediate action or has an urgent
need for waiver services, including placement in the least restrictive and most
appropriate environment necessary to maintain the person's vital functions
because of one of the following criteria:
(i)
An immediate threat, or a high probability of immediate danger to the life,
health, property, or environment of the eligible person or another individual
because of the eligible person's medical, mental health, or behavioral
condition.
(ii) A loss of the
person's primary caregiver due to death, incapacitation, critical medical
condition, or inability to provide continuous care. A caregiver is defined as
any person, agency, or other entity responsible for the care, both physical and
supervisory, of a person because of:
(A) A
family relationship;
(B) Voluntary
assumption of responsibility for care;
(C) Court ordered responsibility or
placement;
(D) Rendering services
in a residential program;
(E)
Rendering services in an institution or in a community-based program;
or
(F) Acceptance of a legal
obligation or responsibility of care to the person.
(iii) Homelessness, which means a situation
where, for a period of thirty (30) days, a person lacks access to an adequate
residence with appropriate resources to meet his or her support and supervision
needs, and without such support, there is evidence of serious harm to the
person's life or health.
(iv) A
case involving a person removed from the home by an appropriate agency due to
abuse, neglect, abandonment, exploitation, or self-neglect.
(v) A residential service request for a
waiver participant or a person on the wait list not receiving 24-hour
residential services, whose health or safety is at significant risk due to
extraordinary needs that cannot be met in the current living arrangement
because of one of following criteria:
(A) A
substantial threat to a person's life or health that is corroborated by the
Department of Family Services, Protection & Advocacy System, Inc., or law
enforcement;
(B) A situation where
the person's health condition or significant and frequently occurring
behavioral challenges pose a substantial threat to the person's own life or
health, or to others in the home;
(C) A situation where the person's critical
medical condition requires ongoing twenty-four (24) hour support and
supervision to maintain the person's health and safety that cannot be met in
the current living situation; or
(D) The loss of the eligible person's primary
caregiver due to death, incapacitation, critical medical condition, or
inability to provide continuous care.
(b) Any person who requests that the Division
consider an emergency case shall be directed to work with the person's chosen
case manager, the Division, and other community resources to review options for
emergency services. The case manager shall submit the request for emergency
services on behalf of the person.
(c) Emergency cases shall be referred to the
ECC pursuant to Section
15 of this Chapter.
(d) An individual who has not been deemed
eligible for waiver services may complete the eligibility process and request
emergency services. No emergency services may be provided to ineligible
persons.
(e) Emergency placement in
waiver services shall not be made as an alternative to incarceration or
jail.
