Unless the context clearly requires otherwise, the definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter.

(1) "Hospice" means a private or public agency or organization that administers and provides hospice care and is licensed by the department of social and health services as a hospice care agency.

(2) "Hospice care" means care prescribed and supervised by the attending physician and provided by the hospice to the terminally ill in accordance with the standards of RCW 70.126.030.

(3) "Home health agency" means a private or public agency or organization that administers and provides home health care and is licensed by the department of social and health services as a home health care agency.

(4) "Home health care" means services, supplies, and medical equipment that meet the standards of RCW 70.126.020, prescribed and supervised by the attending physician, and provided through a home health agency and rendered to members in their residences when hospitalization would otherwise be required.

(5) "Home health aide" means a person employed by a home health agency or a hospice who is providing part-time or intermittent care under the supervision of a registered nurse, a physical therapist, occupational therapist, or speech therapist. Such care includes ambulation and exercise, assistance with self-administered medications, reporting changes in patients' conditions and needs, completing appropriate records, and personal care or household services that are needed to achieve the medically desired results.

(6) "Home health care plan of treatment" means a written plan of care established and periodically reviewed by a physician that describes medically necessary home health care to be provided to a patient for treatment of illness or injury.

(7) "Hospice plan of care" means a written plan of care established and periodically reviewed by a physician that describes hospice care to be provided to a terminally ill patient for palliation or medically necessary treatment of an illness or injury.

(8) "Physician" means a physician licensed under chapter 18.57 or 18.71 RCW.

Effective date—1984 c 22: See note following RCW 48.21.220.

Effective date—1983 c 249: See note following RCW 70.126.001.