SECTION 558.850. Organization and Administration of Hospice Services

(a) A hospice must organize, manage, and administer its hospice program to provide hospice care and support services to a client, the client's caregivers, and the client's family that are necessary for the palliation and management of a client's terminal illness and related conditions. A hospice must provide hospice care and support services that:

(1) optimize the client's comfort and dignity; and

(2) are consistent with the client's and the client's family's needs and goals with priority given to the client's needs and goals.

(b) Hospice services may be provided in the client's residence or independent living environment and, when needed, in a hospice inpatient unit or in a Medicare/Medicaid-certified facility where the hospice makes inpatient care available under arrangement.

(c) A hospice must be primarily engaged in providing the following care and services and must do so in a manner that is consistent with accepted standards of practice:

(1) physician services;

(2) nursing services;

(3) medical social services;

(4) counseling services, including bereavement, dietary, and spiritual counseling;

(5) physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech-language pathology services;

(6) hospice aide and hospice homemaker services;

(7) volunteer services;

(8) short-term inpatient care; and

(9) medical supplies and appliances, durable medical equipment, and drugs and biologicals.

(d) A hospice must make the following services routinely available 24 hours a day, seven days a week:

(1) nursing services;

(2) physician services; and

(3) drugs and biologicals.

(e) A hospice must make the following services available 24 hours a day when reasonable and necessary to meet the client's and the client's family's needs:

(1) medical social services;

(2) counseling services, including bereavement, dietary, and spiritual counseling;

(3) physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech-language pathology services;

(4) hospice aide and hospice homemaker services;

(5) volunteer services;

(6) short-term inpatient care; and

(7) medical supplies and appliances and durable medical equipment.

(f) A Medicare-certified hospice may not discontinue or reduce care provided to a Medicare or Medicaid beneficiary because of the beneficiary's inability to pay for the care.

Source Note: The provisions of this §558.850 adopted to be effective October 1, 2013, 38 TexReg 6628; transferred effective May 1, 2019, as published in the April 12, 2019 issue of the Texas Register, 44 TexReg 1893