LAC 48:I.9377. General Provisions

A. There shall be an organized dietary service that provides nutritional and therapeutic dietetic services to patients. All hospital contracts or arrangements for off-site food preparation shall be with a provider who is licensed by the department's healthcare division or operating under the authority of the federal government. B. A hospital may meet the requirements of §9377.A through a contractual agreement with a provider who is licensed by the department’s Health Standards Section or through a contract with an outside food management company. If the hospital has a contract with an outside food management company, the following requirements shall be met. 1. The hospital shall provide written notices to the department’s Health Standards Section and to the department’s Office of Public Health within 10 calendar days of the effective date of the contract. 2. The outside food management company shall possess a valid LDH, Office of Public Health retail food permit and meet all of the requirements for operating a retail food establishment that serves a highly susceptible population, in accordance with the most current version of the provisions found in Title 51, Public Health—Sanitary Code. 3. Either the hospital or the food management company shall employ or contract with a registered dietician who serves the hospital on a full-time, part-time, or consultant basis to ensure that the nutritional needs of the patients are met in accordance with the licensed healthcare practitioners’ orders and acceptable, nationally recognized standards of practice and/or guidelines.