2016 Mississippi Code
Title 41 - Public Health
Chapter 85 - Mississippi Hospice Law of 1995
§ 41-85-17. Components or modes of hospice programs

Each hospice program shall consist of at least three (3) of the four (4) components or modes of care described in this section which afford the terminally ill individual and the family of the terminally ill individual a range of service delivery which can be tailored to specific needs and preferences of the patient and family at any point in time. These four (4) components are:

(a) Hospice home care. This form of delivery of services shall be the primary form of care except for facilities providing inpatient care. The services of the hospice home care program shall be of the highest quality and shall be provided by the interdisciplinary, interactive qualified hospice team members.

(b) Inpatient hospice care. The inpatient component of care, when contracted for through an institution which is not a hospice providing inpatient continue care, is an adjunct to hospice home care and shall primarily be used only for short-term stays. The facility or rooms within a facility used for the hospice inpatient component of care shall be arranged, administered and managed in such a manner to provide privacy, dignity, comfort, warmth and safety for the terminally ill patient and the family. Every possible accommodation shall be made to create as homelike an atmosphere as practicable. To facilitate overnight family visitation within the facility, rooms shall be limited to no more than double occupancy; and, whenever possible, both occupants shall be hospice patients. There shall be a continuum of care and a continuity of care givers between the hospice home program and the inpatient aspect of care to the extent practicable and compatible with the preferences of the patient and his family. The hours for daily operation and the location of the place where the services are provided shall be determined, to the extent practicable, by the accessibility of such services to the patients and families served by the hospice program.

(c) Outpatient hospice care. The hospice outpatient service shall meet the same standards of quality as applied to inpatient care and hospice home care, considering the inherent differences between inpatients and outpatients with respect to their needs and modes of treatment. The hours for daily operation and the location of the place where the services are provided shall be determined, to the extent practicable, by the accessibility of such services to the patients and families served by the hospice program.

(d) Inpatient continue care. The inpatient continue care component of hospice care may be provided directly by the hospice. The facility used for the hospice inpatient continue care shall be arranged, administered and managed in such a manner to provide privacy, dignity, comfort, warmth and safety for the terminally ill patient and the family. Every possible accommodation shall be made to create as homelike an atmosphere as practicable. To facilitate overnight family visitation within the facility, rooms shall be limited to no more than double occupancy. The hospice shall be in operation twenty-four (24) hours a day and must provide hospice home care, inpatient hospice care, and outpatient care.