Allowed Practitioner - A physician assistant, nurse practitioner, or clinical nurse specialist.

Branch Office - An approved location or site from which a home health agency provides services within a portion of the total geographic area served by the parent agency. The parent home health agency must provide supervision and administrative control of any branch office. It is unnecessary for the branch office to independently meet the conditions of participation as a home health agency.

Clinical Note - A notation of a contact with a patient that is written, timed, and dated, and which describes signs and symptoms, treatment, drugs administered and the patient's reaction or response, and any changes in physical or emotional condition during a given period of time.

In Advance - HHA staff must complete the task prior to performing any hands-on care or any patient education..

Parent Home Health Agency - The agency that provides direct support and administrative control of a branch.

Physician - A doctor of medicine, osteopathy, or podiatric medicine, and who is not precluded from performing this function. (A doctor of podiatric medicine may perform only plan of treatment functions that are consistent with the functions he or she is authorized to perform under State law.)

Primary Home Health Agency - The HHA which accepts the initial referral of a patient, and which provides services directly to the patient or via another health care provider under arrangements (as applicable). Proprietary agency means a private, for-profit agency.

Pseudo-Patient - A person trained to participate in a role-play situation, or a computer-based mannequin device. A pseudo-patient must be capable of responding to and interacting with the home health aide trainee, and must demonstrate the general characteristics of the primary patient population served by the HHA in key areas such as age, frailty, functional status, and cognitive status.

Public Agency - An agency operated by a state or local government. Quality indicator means a specific, valid, and reliable measure of access, care outcomes, or satisfaction, or a measure of a process of care.

Representative - The patient's legal representative, such as a guardian, who makes health-care decisions on the patient's behalf, or a patient-selected representative who participates in making decisions related to the patient's care or well-being, including but not limited to, a family member or an advocate for the patient. The patient determines the role of the representative, to the extent possible.

Simulation - A training and assessment technique that mimics the reality of the homecare environment, including environmental distractions and constraints that evoke or replicate substantial aspects of the real world in a fully interactive fashion, in order to teach and assess proficiency in performing skills, and to promote decision making and critical thinking.

Subdivision - A component of a multi-function health agency, such as the home care department of a hospital or the nursing division of a health department, which independently meets the conditions of participation for HHAs. A subdivision that has branch offices is considered a parent agency.

Summary Report - The compilation of the pertinent factors of a patient's clinical notes that is submitted to the patient's physician, physician assistant, nurse practitioner, or clinical nurse specialist.

Supervised Practical Training - Training in a practicum laboratory or other setting in which the trainee demonstrates knowledge while providing covered services to an individual under the direct supervision of either a registered nurse or a licensed practical nurse who is under the supervision of a registered nurse.

Verbal Order - A physician, physician assistant, nurse practitioner, or clinical nurse specialist order that is spoken to appropriate personnel and later put in writing for the purposes of documenting as well as establishing or revising the patient's plan of care.

Reference

42 CFR §484.2