You can also go to The Alaska Legal Resource Center or search the entire website.

Touch N' GoŽ, the DeskTop In-and-Out Board makes your office run smoother. Visit Touch N' Go's Website to see how.

Alaska Statutes.

Title 18. Health, Safety, and Housing

Chapter 18. Hospice and Home Care Programs

Section 390. Definitions.

AS 18.18.390. Definitions.

In 18.18.005 - 18.18.390,

(1) "bereavement services" means emotional support services related to the death of a family member, which may include counseling, provision of written material, social reorientation, and group support for up to one year following the death of the client who was terminally ill;

(2) "care plan" means a written service delivery plan that the interdisciplinary team, in conjunction with the client, shall develop to reflect the changing care needs of the client;

(3) "client" means the person who is receiving the hospice services;

(4) "department" means the Department of Health and Social Services;

(5) "direct service provider" means employees or volunteers who provide hospice services directly to a client under a hospice program;

(6) "family" means a spouse, primary caregiver, biological relatives, and individuals with close personal ties to the client;

(7) "governing body" means the entity that establishes policy and is legally responsible for the overall operation of a hospice program;

(8) "hospice philosophy" means a philosophy that is life affirming, recognizes dying as a normal process of living, focuses on maintaining the quality of remaining life, neither hastens nor postpones death, strengthens the client's role in making informed decisions about care, and stresses the delivery of services in the least restrictive setting possible and with the least amount of technology necessary by volunteers and professionals who are trained to help clients with the physical, social, psychological, spiritual, and emotional issues related to terminal illness so that the clients can feel better prepared for the death that is to come;

(9) "hospice program" means a program that provides hospice services;

(10) "hospice services" means a range of interdisciplinary palliative and supportive services provided in a home or at an inpatient facility to persons who are terminally ill and those persons' families in order to meet their physical, psychological, social, emotional, and spiritual needs;

(11) "interdisciplinary team," for a hospice program providing comprehensive services, means a group comprised of at least a primary health care provider, a licensed registered nurse, a social worker, a pastoral or other counselor, and a volunteer coordinator or representative;

(12) "medical director" means a licensed physician who oversees the medical components of hospice services and the interdisciplinary team;

(13) "nurse supervisor" means a licensed registered nurse with education, experience, and training in hospice nursing care who is designated by the program director to oversee nursing services for the hospice program;

(14) "primary health care provider" means the physician or advanced nurse practitioner identified by the client or by the person authorized to make decisions for the client under a durable health care power of attorney;

(15) "program director" means the person designated by the governing body of a hospice program as responsible for the day-to-day operations of the program;

(16) "terminally ill" means that a person has a life expectancy of less than one year, in the opinion of the person's primary physician or the medical director, and is no longer receiving curative treatment;

(17) "volunteer" means a trained individual who works for a hospice program without compensation;

(18) "volunteer hospice program" means a hospice program that provides all direct patient care at no charge.

Article 04. HOME HEALTH AGENCIES

Note to HTML Version:

This version of the Alaska Statutes is current through December, 2004. The Alaska Statutes were automatically converted to HTML from a plain text format. Every effort has been made to ensure their accuracy, but this can not be guaranteed. If it is critical that the precise terms of the Alaska Statutes be known, it is recommended that more formal sources be consulted. For statutes adopted after the effective date of these statutes, see, Alaska State Legislature If any errors are found, please e-mail Touch N' Go systems at E-mail. We hope you find this information useful.

Last modified 9/3/2005