(a) Medical director. The overall responsibility for the medical component of patient care shall be under the direction of a physician qualified by training and experience in hospice care, who shall also be responsible for no less than the following:

1. (1) Ensuring and maintaining quality standards of medical practice;
2. (2) Achievement and maintenance of quality assurance of medical practices through a mechanism for the assessment of patient/family care outcomes;
3. (3) Certification of terminally ill patients admitted to the hospice program;
4. (4) Participation as a member of the interdisciplinary team in the development, implementation, and assessment of the patient/family plan of care; and
5. (5) Consulting with the attending physician regarding patient care plans.

(b) Physician services.

1. (1) Physician services shall be provided in accordance with hospice policies.

2. (2) Such policies shall include provisions governing the relationship of the staff physicians, attending physician, and the medical director to:

   1. (A) Each other; and
   2. (B) The interdisciplinary team.
3. (3) In addition to palliation and management of the terminal illness and related conditions, physician employees of the hospice, including the physician member or members of the interdisciplinary group, must also meet the general medical needs of the patients to the extent that these needs are not met by the attending physician.