Department to make rules -- standards for hospices

50-5-210 . Department to make rules -- standards for hospices. (1) The department shall by rule establish standards for the licensure of a hospice. These standards must consider the terminally ill patient and the patient's family as a unit and require service delivery through a medically directed interdisciplinary team of professionals and volunteers acting under a defined hospice administration. (2) A hospice must meet the standards of care defined by law for any skilled care it provides that normally would be provided by a licensed facility such as a hospital, skilled nursing facility, or home health agency. (3) The department shall by rule establish standards for the licensure of a residential hospice facility. (4) The department shall by rule establish standards for the licensure of a freestanding inpatient hospice facility in accordance with medicare certification regulations contained in 42 CFR, part 418, subparts C through E, as adopted by the department. To be licensed by the department, the facility must be managed directly by a medicare-certified hospice.