Section 284-83-015 - Standards for policy definitions and termsA long-term care insurance policy or certificate delivered or issued for delivery in this state must not use the following terms unless the terms are defined in the policy or certificate and the definitions satisfy the following standards. This section specifies minimum standards for several terms commonly found in long-term care insurance policies, while allowing some flexibility in the definitions themselves.
(1) "Activities of daily living" means at least bathing, continence, dressing, eating, toileting and transferring.(2) "Acute condition" means that the individual is medically unstable. An individual with an acute condition requires frequent monitoring by medical professionals, such as physicians and registered nurses, in order to maintain his or her health status.(3) "Adult day care" or "adult day health care" means a program of social or health-related services provided during the day in a community group setting for the purpose of supporting frail, impaired elderly or other disabled adults who can benefit from care in a group setting outside the home.(4) "Bathing" means washing oneself by sponge bath or in either a tub or shower, including the task of getting into or out of the tub or shower.(5) "Cognitive impairment" means a deficiency in a person's short or long-term memory; orientation as to person, place and time; deductive or abstract reasoning; or judgment as it relates to safety awareness.(6) "Continence" means the ability to maintain control of bowel and bladder function; or, when unable to maintain control of bowel or bladder function, the ability to perform associated personal hygiene (including caring for catheter or colostomy bag).(7) "Dressing" means putting on and taking off all items of clothing and any necessary braces, fasteners or artificial limbs.(8) "Eating" means feeding oneself by getting food into the body from a receptacle (such as a plate, cup or table) or by a feeding tube or intravenously.(9) "Hands-on assistance" means physical assistance (minimal, moderate or maximal) without which the individual would not be able to perform the activity of daily living.(10) "Home health care services" means medical and nonmedical services, provided to ill, disabled or infirm persons in their residences. Such services may include homemaker services, assistance with activities of daily living and respite care services.(11) "Managed-care plan" or "plan of care" means a health care or assisted living arrangement designed to coordinate patient care or control costs through utilization review, case management or use of specific provider networks.(12) "Medicare" means "The Health Insurance for the Aged Act, Title XVIII of the Social Security Amendments of 1965 as Then Constituted or Later Amended," or "Title I, Part I of Public Law 89-97, as Enacted by the Eighty-Ninth Congress of the United States of America and popularly known as the Health Insurance for the Aged Act, as then constituted and any later amendments or substitutes thereof," or words of similar import.(13) "Personal care" means the provision of hands-on services to assist an individual with activities of daily living.(14) "Skilled nursing care," "personal care," "home care," "specialized care," "assisted living care" and other services must be defined in relation to the level of skill required, the nature of the care and the setting in which care must be delivered.(15) "Toileting" means getting to and from the toilet, getting on and off the toilet, and performing associated personal hygiene.(16) "Transferring" means moving into or out of a bed, chair or wheelchair.(17) "Skilled nursing facility," "nursing facility," "extended care facility," "convalescent nursing home," "personal care facility," "specialized care providers," "assisted living facility," "home care agency" and terms used to identify other providers of services must be defined in relation to the services and facilities required to be available and the licensure, certification, registration or degree status of those providing or supervising the services. When the definition requires that the provider be appropriately licensed, certified or registered, it must also state what requirements a provider must meet in lieu of licensure, certification or registration if the state in which the service is to be furnished does not require a provider of these services to be licensed, certified or registered, or if the state licenses, certifies or registers the provider of services under another name.Wash. Admin. Code § 284-83-015
Statutory Authority: RCW 48.02.060, 48.83.070, 48.83.110, 48.83.120, 48.83.130(1), and 48.83.140(4)(a). 08-24-019 (Matter No. R 2008-09), § 284-83-015, filed 11/24/08, effective 12/25/08.