HCS:
The Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services (DADS) has a new rule at Texas Administrative Code, Title 40, Part 1, Chapter 9, §9.178(e)(1) regarding a four-person residence. The new rule requires each Home and Community-based Services program provider to ensure that a four-person residence is certified to be in compliance with:
• the relevant portions of Chapter 32 or Chapter 33 of the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 101 Life Safety Code applicable to small facilities and most recently adopted by the Texas State Fire Marshal’s Office; or
• the International Fire Code applicable to an “Institutional Group I-1 occupancy” housing more than 16 persons and most recently adopted by the governmental entity having jurisdiction for the location of the residence.
— The first educational quarterly webinar for interested HCS and TxHmL stakeholders will be Preventable Injury and Death of Individuals in the HCS and TxHmL Programs, Monday, February 4, 2013, from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. You may register here.
— CMS staff clarified that hand-held inhalation medication dispensers (also known as puffers or inhalers) are excluded when coding item O0400D.
— On DADS’ behalf, HHSC proposed to amend §9.178, in Chapter 9, Subchapter D, HCS Program, which would establish specific requirements regarding charges an HCS program provider makes against an individual’s personal funds. See the Texas Register for details.
See the news page for more information about these and other alerts.
