As used in this subpart:

1. (1)

   1. (A) “Hospice care” as defined by state statute means an autonomous, centrally administered, medically directed, coordinated program providing home and outpatient care for the terminally ill patient and family, and which employs an interdisciplinary team to assist in providing palliative and supportive care to meet the special needs arising out of the physical, emotional, spiritual, social, and economic stresses which are experienced during the final stages of illness and during dying and bereavement.
   2. (B) The care shall be available twenty-four (24) hours a day, seven (7) days a week, and provided on the basis of need, regardless of the ability to pay;

2. (2)

   1. (A) “Hospice facility” means a facility that houses hospice beds licensed exclusively to the care of terminally ill patients but not beds licensed to:

      1. (i) Hospitals;
      2. (ii) Nursing homes; or
      3. (iii) Other assisted living or residential facilities.
   2. (B) It can provide any of the four (4) levels of hospice care.
   3. (C) For purposes of this application, terminally ill patients are defined according to the Social Security Act of 1935, 42 U.S.C. § 301 et seq., as those individuals with a terminal diagnosis and a prognosis of six (6) months or less if the diagnosed condition runs its normal course; and
3. (3) “Hospice program” means a public agency or private organization or subdivision or either of these that is primarily engaged in providing care to terminally ill individuals, 42 C.F.R. pt. 418.