Section 120. Hospice facilities

A. Providers seeking to operate a hospice facility shall comply with the appropriate facility licensing regulation as follows:

1. Facilities with 16 or fewer beds shall be licensed as a hospice facility pursuant to this chapter. Such facilities with six or more beds shall obtain a Certificate of Use and Occupancy with a Use Group designation of I-2; or

2. Facilities with more than 16 beds shall be licensed as a hospital pursuant to 12VAC5-410 or as a nursing facility pursuant to 12VAC5-371. Such facilities shall obtain the applicable Certificate of Public Need prior to the development or construction of the facility.

B. Only patients diagnosed terminally ill shall be admitted to a hospice facility. The facility shall admit only those patients whose needs can be met by the accommodations and services provided by the facility.

C. To the maximum extent possible, care shall be provided in the patient's home. Admission to a hospice facility shall be the decision of the patient in consultation with the patient's physician. No patient shall be admitted to a hospice facility at the discretion of, or for the convenience of, the hospice provider, the primary caregiver, or the family.

D. All hospice providers operating a hospice facility shall use its facility to provide, to the extent possible, respite and symptom management services to all patients in the hospice program needing such services.

E. No hospice facility shall receive patients for care, palliative treatment, respite, or symptom management services in excess of its licensed bed capacity.

F. No hospice facility provider shall add additional patient beds or renovate facility space without first notifying the OLC. OLC notifications must be in writing to the director of the OLC.

G. The OLC will not accept any requests for variances to this section.

Historical Notes

Derived from Volume 21, Issue 23, eff. November 1, 2005; amended, Virginia Register Volume 24, Issue 11, eff. March 5, 2008; Volume 27, Issue 11, eff. March 2, 2011.

Statutory Authority

§§ 32.1-12 and 32.1-162.5 of the Code of Virginia.