RCFE Title 22 Regulations Vocabulary

Vocabulary flashcards covering key definitions and regulatory terms from Title 22 Division 6 Chapter 8 for Residential Care Facilities for the Elderly (RCFE).

Administrator

The individual designated by the licensee to act in behalf of the licensee in the overall management of the facility.

Admission Agreement

All documents that a resident or resident’s representative must sign at the time of, or as a condition of, admission.

Advance Health Care Directive

A written instruction that relates to the provision of health care when the individual is incapacitated, including a Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care, Individual Health Care Instruction, Request to Forego Resuscitative Measures, or Do Not Resuscitate Form.

Allowable Health Condition

Any health condition that the licensee is allowed to care for either in accordance with a specific regulation, or with an exception approved by the licensing agency.

Ambulatory Person

A person who is capable of demonstrating the mental competence and physical ability to leave a building without assistance of any other person or without the use of any mechanical aid in case of an emergency.

Appropriately Skilled Professional

An individual that has training and is licensed to perform necessary medical procedures prescribed by a physician, such as a Registered Nurse (RN), Licensed Vocational Nurse (LVN), Physical Therapist (PT), Occupational Therapist (OT), or Respiratory Therapist (RT).

Basic Rate

The SSI/SSP established rate, which does not include the amount allocated for the recipient's personal and incidental needs.

Basic Services

Services required to be provided by the facility in order to obtain and maintain a license, including safe and healthful living accommodations, personal assistance and care, observation and supervision, planned activities, food service, and arrangements for incidental medical and dental care.

Behavioral Expression

Behavior or behaviors displayed by a resident that may result in harm to self or others including, but not limited to, unsafe wandering, elopement, expressions of frustration, disorientation, hallucinations, or lacking in hazard awareness or impulse control.

California Clearance

A status indicating an individual has no felony or misdemeanor convictions reported by the California Department of Justice.

Capacity

The maximum number of persons authorized to be provided services at any one time in any licensed facility.

Care and Supervision

Activities involving assistance as needed with activities of daily living and the assumption of varying degrees of responsibility for the safety and well-being of residents.

Criminal Record Clearance

A status indicating an individual has both a California clearance and a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) clearance.

Deficiency

Any failure to comply with any provision of the Residential Care Facilities Act for the Elderly and regulations adopted by the Department pursuant to the Act.

Delayed Egress Device

A special egress-control device of the time-delay type as specified in Health and Safety Code section 1569.699(a).

Dementia

An overall term for diseases and conditions characterized by a progressive decline in memory, language, problem-solving, and other thinking skills severe enough to interfere with daily life activities, referring to Major Neurocognitive Disorder (major NCD).

Direct Care Staff

The licensee, or those individuals employed by the licensee, who provide direct care to the residents, including assistance with activities of daily living.

Egress Alert Device

A wrist band or other device worn or carried by a resident that triggers a visual or auditory alarm when the resident leaves the facility building or grounds.

Elderly Person

For purposes of admission into a residential care facility for the elderly, a person who is sixty (60) years of age or older.

Elopement

Occurs when a resident who is at risk of harm due to their cognitive condition leaves the facility unsupervised, or while in the licensee's care, leaves another safe location unsupervised.

Emergency Approval to Operate (EAO)

A temporary approval to operate a facility for no more than 60 days pending the issuance or denial of a license by the licensing agency.

Exception

A variance to a specific regulation based on the unique needs or circumstances of a specific resident or staff person.

Facility Hospice Care Waiver

A waiver granted by the Department permitting the retention in a facility of a designated maximum number of terminally ill residents who are receiving hospice services from a hospice agency.

Health Condition Relocation Order

Written notice by the Department to a licensee requiring the relocation of a resident because the resident has a health condition which cannot be cared for within the limits of the license, requires inpatient care, or has a prohibited health condition.

Immediate Need

A situation where prohibiting the operation of the facility would be detrimental to a resident's physical health, mental health, safety, or welfare.

Interdisciplinary Team

A team consisting of the Department's nurse consultant and a social worker experienced in the needs of the elderly that assists the Department in evaluating the need for relocating a resident who requested a review of a health-condition relocation order.

License

A basic permit to operate a residential care facility for the elderly.

Major Neurocognitive Disorder (major NCD)

A clinical term describing substantially decreased cognitive or mental function due to a medical disease other than a psychiatric illness, including Alzheimer's disease, vascular dementia, Lewy body dementia, Parkinson's disease, and frontotemporal dementia.

Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI)

Refers to individuals whose cognitive abilities are in a conditional state between normal aging and dementia, characterized by short-term memory problems without the degree of impairment required for a dementia diagnosis.

Nonambulatory Person

A person who is unable to leave a building unassisted under emergency conditions, including those dependent on mechanical aids or unable to respond to danger signals.

Preadmission Fee

An application fee, processing fee, admission fee, entrance fee, community fee, or other fee requested or accepted by a licensee prior to admission.

Pressure Injury

Localized damage to the skin and/or soft tissue under the skin, usually over a bony part of the body or related to a medical device, categorized as Stage 1, 2, 3, or 4.

PRN Medication

Any nonprescription or prescription medication which is to be taken as needed (pro re nata).

Provisional License

A temporary, nonrenewable license issued for a period not to exceed twelve months.

Residential Care Facility for the Elderly (RCFE)

A housing arrangement chosen voluntarily where 75 percent of the residents are sixty years of age or older and where varying levels of care and supervision are provided.

Serious Deficiency

Any deficiency that presents an immediate or substantial threat to the physical health, mental health, or safety of the residents or clients of a community care facility.

Significant Change in Condition

A deterioration or improvement in a resident's physical, cognitive, behavioral, or functional condition that is significant enough to require an alteration of the services provided to the resident.

Terminally Ill Resident

A resident who has a prognosis by his/her attending physician that his/her life expectancy is six months or less if the illness or condition runs its normal course.

Transfer Trauma

The consequences of the stress and emotional shock caused by an abrupt, involuntary relocation of a resident from one facility to another.

Unsafe Wandering

Occurs when a resident at risk enters an area that is physically hazardous or contains items that are potential safety hazards.

Waiver

A variance to a specific regulation based on a facility-wide need or circumstance which is not typically tied to a specific resident or staff person.