WAC 246-335-520 — Delivery of services (In-Home Services Agencies — Home Health)

What this rule requires your agency to do

• 1Start home health services within seven calendar days of receiving and accepting a physician/practitioner referral, unless a documented exception applies (subsec. (3)).(WAC 246-335-520 — Delivery of services (In-Home Services Agencies — Home Health))
• 2Limit nurse delegation to stable and predictable patients for tasks not requiring clinical judgment, use appropriately structured RN delegation, and require home health aides to complete the DSHS nurse delegation class before participating (except simple care tasks) (subsec. (14)).(WAC 246-335-520 — Delivery of services (In-Home Services Agencies — Home Health))
• 3Provide back-up care when services cannot be provided as scheduled; back-up care requiring ADL assistance or health services must be provided by staff with minimum health care credentialing (noncredentialed staff only for IADLs or emergencies) (subsec. (11)).(WAC 246-335-520 — Delivery of services (In-Home Services Agencies — Home Health))
• 4Provide for coordination of care among the licensee's own service categories and with other agencies when care impacts patient health (subsec. (5)).(WAC 246-335-520 — Delivery of services (In-Home Services Agencies — Home Health))
• 5Address patient/family communication needs, telehealth/telemedicine use, emergency care, and actions upon patient death (subsecs. (6), (7), (9), (10)).(WAC 246-335-520 — Delivery of services (In-Home Services Agencies — Home Health))
• 6Address actions when a patient has a signed advance directive or POLST, including providing emergency medical personnel a patient's signed POLST form; treat incomplete POLST sections as full treatment (subsecs. (12), (13)).(WAC 246-335-520 — Delivery of services (In-Home Services Agencies — Home Health))
• 7Give patients at least a 48-hour written or verbal notice prior to discharge, documented in the patient record, to minimize possibility of patient abandonment (subsec. (1)(a)); the 48-hour notice is not required where worker safety, significant patient noncompliance, or failure to pay is the reason (subsec. (1)(b)).(WAC 246-335-520 — Delivery of services (In-Home Services Agencies — Home Health))
• 8Define personnel/contractor/volunteer roles for medication self-administration with assistance and medication administration, and manage medications and treatments per applicable practice acts (subsecs. (4), (8)).(WAC 246-335-520 — Delivery of services (In-Home Services Agencies — Home Health))