SECTION 310:661-2-1. Licensure

(a)   Applicant. Any public or private agency or person desiring to establish a hospice in Oklahoma shall apply for and obtain a license from the Department.

(b)   Application. An application for a hospice license shall be filed on a form prescribed by the Department and shall be accompanied by the information required by the Act.

(c)   Plan of delivery. The initial application shall be accompanied by a plan of delivery of home and inpatient hospice services to patients and their families. The plan shall include, but not be limited to, those items listed in the Act.

(d)   Expiration/renewal.

(1)   First-year license.

(A)   The first-year license shall expire one (1) year from the date of issuance unless suspended or revoked. A hospice holding a first-year license is required to successfully complete an initial inspection by representatives of the Department prior to the provision of services and shall be subject to a follow-up inspection after providing hospice services for at least six (6) months. The Department may require any hospice to renew the first-year license for one additional year. A hospice shall not hold a first-year license for more than twenty-four (24) months.

(B)   A follow-up survey that demonstrates compliance with the Act and these rules shall be required prior to a hospice program being issued a permanent license.

(2)   Permanent license. The permanent license shall expire one (1) year from the date of issuance, unless suspended or revoked. An application for renewal shall be submitted according to the Act. Only hospice programs in compliance with the Act and these rules shall be issued a permanent license.

(e)   Base of operation. Every hospice providing hospice services shall operate from a place of business which is accessible to the public and physically located in Oklahoma. Staff providing services from the hospice shall be supervised by personnel at that location.

(f)   Eligibility for license.

(1)   A hospice making appropriate application that has been determined to be compliant with this Chapter and the Act is eligible for a license.

(2)   A hospice may operate alternate administrative offices under one (1) license as long as the following requirements are met:

(A)   The offices shall be located within a geographical area with a radius of no more than fifty (50) miles from the main hospice.

(B)   The mileage limit used for approval of each administrative office shall be the mileage between town centers of the parent location town and the proposed administrative office location town as reported by the Oklahoma Department of Transportation as approximately the shortest route between town centers utilizing both State Highways System (free) and State Turnpike System (toll) roads.

(C)   The offices shall be operated under the same administration and governing body as an extension site for services of the main hospice. These offices shall operate under the same name(s) as the licensee.

(D)   An application for license, or renewal thereof, to establish or operate each hospice alternate administrative office of an agency licensed in the State of Oklahoma shall be accompanied by a nonrefundable licensing fee of five hundred dollars ($500.00) and application at least thirty (30) days before beginning operations.

(g)   Compliance with Federal, State and local laws and regulations. The hospice and its staff shall operate and furnish services that comply with all applicable Federal, State, and local laws and rules. The hospice shall ensure that staff comply with applicable State practice acts and rules in the provision of hospice services.

(h)   Hospice inpatient facility.

(1)   Each licensed hospice program may operate one (1) hospice inpatient facility with twelve (12) or fewer inpatient beds as long as the facility complies with hospice inpatient facility service requirements at OAC 310:661-6 and hospice inpatient facility physical plant requirements at OAC 310:661-8.

(2)   A hospice inpatient facility may not be independently licensed as a hospice unless the hospice provides a full continuum of hospice program services to patients in their homes and temporary places of residence including the inpatient hospice facility.

[Source: Amended and renumbered from 310:661-3-1 at 14 Ok Reg 2106, eff 4-7-97 (emergency); Amended and renumbered from 310:661-3-1 at 14 Ok Reg 2269, eff 6-12-97; Amended at 21 Ok Reg 1303, eff 5-27-04; Amended at 23 Ok Reg 2412, eff 6-25-06; Amended at 26 Ok Reg 2042, eff 6-25-09]