LAC 48:I.9405. Patient Care Services

A. The hospital shall have an on-going plan, consistent with available community and hospital resources, to provide or make available social work, psychological and educational services to meet the medically related needs of its patients. B. The hospital shall also have an effective, on-going discharge planning program that facilitates the provision of follow-up care. Each patient's record shall be annotated with a note regarding the nature of post hospital care arrangements. Discharge planning shall be initiated in a timely manner. Patients, along with necessary medical information (e.g., the patient's functional capacity, nursing and other care requirements, discharge summary, referral forms) shall be transferred or referred to appropriate facilities, agencies or outpatient services, as needed, for follow-up or ancillary care.. 1. If a patient has designated an uncompensated caregiver for aftercare, a hospital shall make a good faith attempt to notify the patient's designated caregiver of the patient's discharge to the patient's residence as soon as possible prior to the patient's discharge. If the hospital is unable to contact the designated caregiver, the lack of contact may not interfere with, delay or otherwise affect the medical care provided to the patient, or an appropriate discharge of the patient. a. For purposes of §9405.B.1-3, a residence does not include any rehabilitation facility, hospital, nursing home, assisted living facility or group home. 2. As soon as practicable prior to the patient's discharge, the hospital shall make a reasonable effort to consult with the designated caregiver along with the patient, taking into account the capabilities and limitations of the caregiver, to accomplish the aftercare tasks that may be included in a discharge care plan that describes the patient's aftercare needs at his residence. 3. The hospital shall educate and instruct the caregiver concerning the aftercare needs of the patient in a manner that is consistent with the discharge plan and is based on the learning needs of the caregiver. In addition, the hospital shall also provide an opportunity for the caregiver and patient to ask questions and receive explanations about the aftercare tasks. 4. If a patient has been admitted for inpatient behavioral healthcare services pursuant to an emergency certificate issued in accordance with R.S. 28:53, the hospital shall make a reasonable effort to: a. provide written or telephonic notification to any licensed healthcare practitioner that has been providing behavioral health services to the patient, if known, of the date and time the patient has been scheduled to be discharged, unless the patient objects to that information being communicated; b. provide written or telephonic notification with 24 hours of discharge to any licensed healthcare practitioner that the patient is being referred to follow-up behavioral health services; i. the notification shall include a summary of the patient’s medical history and any current mental health conditions the patient is suffering from at the time of discharge, and shall be provided no later than the date the patient has been scheduled for follow-up behavioral services. 5. Prior to or at the time of discharge, the hospital shall: a. provide information directed to the patient and the patient’s family members, caregivers, or friends about the warning signs of self-harm, and the importance of seeking behavioral health services after an admission pursuant to an emergency certificate has ended; b. instruct the patient and the patient’s family members, caregivers, or friends to seek assistance from a licensed healthcare practitioner to provide ongoing care; and c. clarify that medical privacy laws do not prevent a family member, friend, or other loved one from communicating the patient’s condition to a licensed healthcare practitioner that has been treating the patient. C. Services to persons who are elderly and persons with disabilities. Any licensed hospital, which is owned or operated, or both, by a hospital service district, or which benefits from being financed by the sale of bonds from the state or guaranteed by the state that are exempt from taxation as provided by Louisiana law, or which receives any other type of financial assistance from the state, is directed to give, when possible, priority to the treatment of persons who are elderly and persons with physical or mental disabilities in the delivery of nonemergency healthcare services.