Administration

(1) The home care organization providing professional support services must organize, manage and administer its services to attain and maintain the highest practicable functional capacity for each consumer regarding nursing and therapy needs as indicated by the plan of care. (2) The agency shall develop and maintain administrative control of any site code. (3) The organizational structure, professional support services provided, administrative control and lines of authority for the delegation of responsibility down to the consumer care level shall be clearly set forth in writing and shall be readily identifiable. Administrative and supervisory functions shall not be delegated to another agency. (4) A governing body (or designated person(s) so functioning) must: assume full legal authority and responsibility for the management and provision of all professional support services; fiscal operations; quality assessment and performance improvement programs. The governing body shall appoint a qualified administrator who is responsible for the day-to-day operation of the organization and is responsible for designating people to carry out these functions. (5) The administrator shall organize and direct the organization’s ongoing functions, the professional personnel and the staff; employ qualified personnel and ensure adequate staff education and evaluation for all personnel involved in direct care; ensure the accuracy of public information materials and activities; and implement an effective budgeting and accounting system. A person with sufficient experience and training shall be authorized in writing to assume temporary duty during the administrator’s short-term absence. The designee may be a physician, registered nurse, or a therapist. (6) An agency shall have a duly qualified administrator accessible during normal operating hours. Any change of administrators shall be reported to the Department within fifteen (15) days. (7) An administrator shall serve no more than one (1) licensed home care organization unless that home care organization provides other categories of home care organization services under the same ownership and at the same location. (8) The agency shall maintain an office with a working telephone that is staffed or takes voice messages during normal business hours. (9) When licensure is applicable for a particular position of employment, a copy of the current license or the number and renewal number of the employee’s current license must be maintained in the employee’s personnel file. Each personnel file shall contain accurate information as to the education, training, experience and personnel background of the employee. Proof of adequate medical screenings to exclude communicable disease shall be maintained in the file of each employee. (10) Personnel practices shall be supported by written personnel policies. Personnel records shall include at a minimum: job descriptions, verification of references and credentials, and performance evaluations. Personnel records must be kept current. Agencies employing only one (1) staff member must maintain a personnel record with verification of current credentials. (11) An ongoing educational program shall be planned and conducted for the development and improvement of skills of all the agency’s personnel engaged in delivery of professional support services. Each employee shall receive appropriate orientation to the agency, its policies, the employee’s position, and the employee’s duties. Records shall be maintained which indicate the subject of and attendance at such staff development programs. STANDARDS FOR HOME CARE ORGANIZATIONS PROVIDING CHAPTER 0720-35 PROFESSIONAL SUPPORT SERVICES (12) If personnel, under hourly or per visit contracts, are utilized by the agency, there shall be a written contract between such personnel and the agency clearly designating: (a) That consumers are accepted for care only by the agency; (b) Which professional support services are to be provided; (c) That it is necessary to conform to all applicable agency policies including personnel qualifications; (d) The responsibility for participating in developing plans of care; (e) The manner in which professional support services will be controlled, coordinated and evaluated by the agency; (f) The procedures for submitting clinical and progress notes, scheduling visits and periodic consumer evaluations; and (g) The procedures for determining charges and reimbursement. (13) Supervision of unlicensed personnel must occur at a minimum of every thirty (30) days and must include direct observation of the provision of care, record review and individual conferences. (14) Whenever the rules of this chapter require that a licensee develop a written policy, plan, procedure, technique or system concerning a subject, the licensee shall develop the required policy, maintain it and adhere to its provisions. An agency which violates a required policy also violates the rule establishing the requirement. (15) Policies and procedures shall be consistent with professionally recognized standards of practice. (16) All agencies shall adopt appropriate policies regarding the testing of consumers and staff for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and any other identified causative agent of acquired immune deficiency syndrome. (17) No agency shall retaliate against or, in any manner, discriminate against any person because of a complaint made in good faith and without malice to the Board, the Department, the Department of Human Services Adult Protective Services, the state agency financially responsible for services to consumers, or the Comptroller of the State Treasury. An agency shall neither retaliate nor discriminate because of information lawfully provided to these authorities, because of a person’s cooperation with them or because a person is subpoenaed to testify at a hearing involving one of these authorities. (18) All health care facilities licensed pursuant to T.C.A. §§ 68-11-201, et seq. shall post the following in the main public entrance: (a) Contact information including statewide toll-free number of the division of adult protective services, and the number for the local district attorney’s office; (b) A statement that a person of advanced age who may be the victim of abuse, neglect, or exploitation may seek assistance or file a complaint with the division concerning abuse, neglect and exploitation; and STANDARDS FOR HOME CARE ORGANIZATIONS PROVIDING CHAPTER 0720-35 PROFESSIONAL SUPPORT SERVICES (c) A statement that any person, regardless of age, who may be the victim of domestic violence may call the nationwide domestic violence hotline, with that number printed in boldface type, for immediate assistance and posted on a sign no smaller than eight and one-half inches (8½") in width and eleven inches (11") in height. Postings of (a) and (b) shall be on a sign no smaller than eleven inches (11") in width and seventeen inches (17") in height. (19) “No smoking” signs or the international “No Smoking” symbol, consisting of a pictorial representation of a burning cigarette enclosed in a red circle with a red bar across it, shall be clearly and conspicuously posted at every entrance. (20) The facility shall develop a concise statement of its charity care policies and shall post such statement in a place accessible to the public.