2007 California Health and Safety Code Article 1. General Provisions

CA Codes (hsc:1570-1571)

1570.  This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the
California Adult Day Health Care Act.



1570.2.  The Legislature hereby finds and declares that there exists
a pattern of overutilization of long-term institutional care for
elderly persons, and that there is an urgent need to establish and to
continue a community-based system of quality adult day health care
which will enable elderly persons to maintain maximum independence.
While recognizing that there continues to be a substantial need for
facilities providing custodial care, overreliance on this type of
care has proven to be a costly panacea in both financial and human
terms, often traumatic, and destructive of continuing family
relationships and the capacity for independent living.
   It is, therefore, the intent of the Legislature in enacting this
chapter and related provisions to provide for the development of
policies and programs that will accomplish the following:
   (a) Assure that elderly persons are not institutionalized
inappropriately or prematurely.
   (b) Provide a viable alternative to institutionalization for those
elderly persons who are capable of living at home with the aid of
appropriate health care or rehabilitative and social services.
   (c) Establish adult day health centers in the community for this
purpose, that will be easily accessible to all participants,
including the economically disadvantaged elderly person, and that
will provide outpatient health, rehabilitative, and social services
necessary to permit the participants to maintain personal
independence and lead meaningful lives.
   (d) Include the services of adult day health centers as a benefit
under the Medi-Cal Act, that shall be an initial and integral part in
the development of an overall plan for a coordinated, comprehensive
continuum of optional long-term care services based upon appropriate
need.
   (e) Establish a rural alternative adult day health care program
designed to meet the special needs and requirements of rural areas to
enable the implementation of subdivisions (a) through (d),
inclusive, for all Californians in need of those services.
   (f) Ensure that all laws, regulations, and procedures governing
adult day health care be enforced equitably regardless of
organizational sponsorship and that all program flexibility
provisions be administered equitably.



1570.7.  As used in this chapter:
   (a) "Adult day health care" means an organized day program of
therapeutic, social, and health activities and services provided
pursuant to this chapter to elderly persons with functional
impairments, either physical or mental, for the purpose of restoring
or maintaining optimal capacity for self-care.  Provided on a
short-term basis, adult day health care serves as a transition from a
health facility or home health program to personal independence.
Provided on a long-term basis, it serves as an alternative to
institutionalization in a long-term health care facility when 24-hour
skilled nursing care is not medically necessary or viewed as
desirable by the recipient or his or her family.
   (b) "Adult day health center" or "adult day health care center"
means a licensed and certified facility that provides adult day
health care.
   (c) "Department" or "state department" means the State Department
of Health Services.
   (d) "Director" means the Director of Health Services.
   (e) "Elderly" or "older person" means a person 55 years of age or
older, but also includes other adults who are chronically ill or
impaired and who would benefit from adult day health care.
   (f) "Individual plan of care" means a plan designed to provide
recipients of adult day health care with appropriate treatment in
accordance with the assessed needs of each individual.
   (g) "License" means a basic permit to operate an adult day health
care center.  With respect to a health facility licensed pursuant to
Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 1250), "license" means a special
permit, as defined by Section 1251.5, empowering the health facility
to provide adult day health care services.
   (h) "Maintenance program" means procedures and exercises that are
provided to a participant, pursuant to Section 1580, in order to
generally maintain existing function.  These procedures and exercises
are planned by a licensed or certified therapist and are provided by
a person who has been trained by a licensed or certified therapist
and who is directly supervised by a nurse or by a licensed or
certified therapist.
   (i) "Restorative therapy" means physical, occupational, and speech
therapy, and psychiatric and psychological services that are planned
and provided by a licensed or certified therapist.  The therapy and
services may also be provided by an assistant or aide under the
appropriate supervision of a licensed therapist, as determined by the
licensed therapist.  The therapy and services are provided to
restore function, when there is an expectation that the condition
will improve significantly in a reasonable period of time, as
determined by the multidisciplinary assessment team.



1570.9.  In the event of conflict between the provisions of this
chapter and the provisions of Chapter 1 (commencing with Section
1200), Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 1250), or Chapter 3
(commencing with Section 1500) of this division, this chapter shall
be deemed controlling.  Except as provided in Section 1507, no
facility which provides a specialized program of both medical and
nonmedical care for the elderly on an outpatient basis shall be
licensed as a health facility, clinic, or community care facility
under this division, but shall be subject to licensure exclusively in
accordance with the provisions of this chapter.
   Review of the need and desirability of proposals for adult day
health centers shall be governed by the provisions of this chapter
and shall not be subject to review under Part 1.5 (commencing with
Section 437) of Division 1.


1571.  Nothing in this chapter shall require any county to include
adult day health care as a part of the services offered by the county
hospital or to otherwise establish an adult day health center.