Admission Criteria

Section 300.7010  Admission Criteria a)         The unit shall have clearly defined admission, admission exclusion, and discharge criteria.  This shall include a policy specifying the individuals whom the unit will admit and retain based on the stages of Alzheimer's disease, individuals' behaviors, or other definable needs.  These criteria shall reflect the unit's mission and scope of services.  A copy of these criteria shall be provided to the resident, resident's family, resident's representative, and prospective residents and their family/representative prior to admission. b)         All unit residents shall have a diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease or other types of dementia. c)         Unit staff shall complete a comprehensive evaluation of the resident before the resident is admitted.  The evaluation shall include, but not be limited to, the prospective resident's health status, life-style, behavior, interests, and history.  In addition to appropriate medical, behavioral, and social service professionals, the resident, the resident's family, the resident's representative, and the resident's most recent care giver shall have the opportunity to provide information for this evaluation.  This information shall be available to staff before admission and shall be used in the assessment process after admission. d)         A resident may be admitted to the unit without a comprehensive evaluation in situations where a sudden change in circumstances renders the primary care giver unable to continue to provide care (e.g., death or incapacitating illness of the care giver; treatment and release of the prospective resident from a hospital emergency room).  A plan shall be put in place prior to admission to meet the resident's needs on admission.  In these situations, a comprehensive evaluation shall be initiated within 24 hours after admission and shall be completed within seven days after admission. e)         The health and behavior of each resident shall be considered by the facility in assigning roommates, so that no resident's physical or mental health is adversely affected by his or her roommate.  If a resident's health or behavior changes after admission to the unit, or staff receive new information about a resident's health or behavior that indicates that the current room assignment would be harmful to a resident's health, rooms will be reassigned as necessary to protect the health of all residents on the unit.  If there are no available rooms, and reassignment is not possible, other measures shall be taken to protect residents' physical and mental health, e.g., increased staffing or supervision.