La. Admin. Code tit. 48 § I-7517

Current through Register Vol. 50, No. 11, November 20, 2024

Section I-7517 - Personnel Qualifications/Responsibilities

A. Responsibility. The administration is responsible for assuring that:

1. all staff members are aware of their job responsibilities and are capable of performing assigned tasks;

2. a facility's staffing is adequate to produce the desired treatment outcomes and must reflect the volume of the patients, patient acuity, and number of services provided;

3. a facility develop and utilize a specific process to determine appropriate staffing levels.

B. Qualifications. All personnel shall be licensed in accordance with their respective professions and be either board certified or board eligible as required by their respective certifying organizations. In addition, rural health clinics (RHCs) shall be responsible for verifying and monitoring that professional certified personnel maintain continuous license/certification.

1. Physician Services. The physician, a medical doctor or doctor of osteopathic medicine, shall provide the following:

a. medical direction for the clinic's healthcare activities, and consultation for and medical supervision of the healthcare staff;

b. in conjunction with the physician assistant and/or midlevel practitioner, participation in the development, execution, and periodic review of the RHCs' written policies and services provided to patients; and

c. periodic review of the RHCs' patient records, and provision of medical orders and medical care services to the patients of the RHC.

2. Mid-level Practitioner. The mid-level practitioner shall be appropriately licensed and credentialed as either an advanced practice registered nurse (family nurse practitioner) or physician's assistant. The mid-level practitioner(s) shall be required to maintain Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) certification to assure his/her proficiency in accepted standards of emergency care. If a facility has a current written agreement with an advanced life support provider, who can provide care within 10 minutes, then the mid-level practitioner and/or physician are exempt from this required certification.

a. Repealed.

b. Repealed.

3. Support Staff. The facility should be adequately staffed to provide necessary support to the professionals. Additional staff may include pharmacists, administrators, managers, and clerical and medical records personnel.

C. Governing Body. All owners of RHCs shall be disclosed. Ownership of five percent or more constitutes ownership. In the case of an entity requiring a board of directors by law and/or as a condition of its articles of incorporation or bylaws, members of the board of directors must be identified and minutes of the board meetings shall be made available to LDH/HSS. In those RHCs requiring a board of directors, the board shall meet at least once a year.

La. Admin. Code tit. 48, § I-7517

Promulgated by the Department of Health and Hospitals, Office of the Secretary, Bureau of Health Services Financing, LR 25:1846 (October 1999), amended LR 28:509 (March 2002), Amended by the Department of Health, Health Standards Section, LR 501279 (9/1/2024).

AUTHORITY NOTE: Promulgated in accordance with R.S. 46:153 and R.S. 40:2197.