Section 20.2. Definitions

The following words and terms, when used in this chapter, have the following meanings, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:

Act—The Family Caregiver Support Act (62 P. S. § § 3061—3068).

Area agency on aging—The local agency designated by the Department within each planning and service area to administer the delivery of a comprehensive and coordinated plan of social and other services and activities in the planning and service area.

Assistive devices—Nondisposable personal devices, as distinguished from modifications to a home, that are usable to assist the carereceiver, or the caregiver on the carereceiver’s behalf, to carry out an activity of daily living and, thereby, reduce the caregiver’s burden.

Benefits counseling—A service that provides family caregivers with an individual, comprehensive review of their caregiving situations to identify appropriate resources available and to assist caregivers to access these resources.

Caregiver education or caregiver training—Services that provide instruction or training to family caregivers, in groups or individually, in general and specific information or skills required in the care of functionally impaired older persons.

Carereceiver—A functionally dependent older adult or other adult with chronic dementia such as Alzheimer’s Disease who is being cared for by a relative who lives in the same residence.

Chronic dementia—An irreversible global loss of cognitive function causing evident intellectual impairment which always includes memory loss, without alteration of state of consciousness as diagnosed by a physician and which is severe enough to interfere with work or social activities, or both, and to require continuous care or supervision.

Consumable supplies—Expendable items needed on an ongoing basis to provide care to a carereceiver. Consumable supplies do not include prescription drugs.

Continuous supervision—Uninterrupted care which does not preclude brief periods when the carereceiver may be left alone, if appropriate and consistent with the care plan.

Department—The Department of Aging of the Commonwealth.

Functionally dependent—Requiring enough assistance with one or more activities of daily living to be deemed by the area agency on aging, under this chapter, to require continuous care or supervision. Limitations contributing to the functional dependency may include physical or cognitive impairments.

Home modifications—Reasonable modifications, approved under this chapter, to the structure of a home for the purpose of reducing caregiver burden. The term does not include repairs.

Household—Persons who occupy the same residence.

Household income—The income of all members of a household with the exception of a minor or dependent student.

Income—Income, from whatever source derived, as specified in § 20.23 (relating to income).

OPTIONS—A program operated by the Department for persons who need long term care because they are functionally disabled. The program provides a continuum of assessment, care management and services which may make it possible for a functionally disabled person to be maintained in the community as an alternative to institutional placement. Each of these three functions under OPTIONS—assessment, care management and services—is divided into Level I or Level II based on the intensity and complexity of need.

Older adult or older person or older relative—A person who is 60 years of age or older, and who is a relative of the caregiver.

Ongoing caregiving expenses—The costs of respite care and other supportive services or consumable supplies which are directly related to the provision of care to the older relative.

Other adult—A person 18 years of age or older residing within this Commonwealth who is suffering from a chronic dementia such as Alzheimer’s Disease.

Other supportive services—Services other than respite care services that are directly related and necessary to the care being provided to the carereceiver and which are noted in the client’s care plan. These services may include the following:

(i) Personal care skills training and other caregiver education services not available directly from the Program.

(ii) Counseling under a certified counseling or mental health agency.

(iii) Legal and financial counseling necessary to manage the affairs of the carereceiver.

(iv) Specialized transportation services.

Planning and service area—The geographic unit within this Commonwealth, as designated by the Secretary, for the allocation of funds for the delivery of social services to older persons residing in that unit.

Poverty level—The income level indicated in the Federal Poverty Income Guidelines developed, annually updated and published in the Federal Register by the United States Department of Health and Human Services.

Primary caregiver—The one identified relative who has assumed the primary responsibility for the provision of care needed to maintain the physical or mental health of a functionally dependent older adult or other adult suffering from chronic dementia such as Alzheimer’s Disease, who lives in the same residence with the individual on a continuous basis and does not receive financial compensation for the care provided.

Program—The Family Caregiver Support Program.

Relative—A spouse or parent; child; stepparent; stepchild; grandparent; grandchild; brother; sister; half-brother; half-sister; aunt; great aunt; uncle; great uncle; niece; or nephew, by blood, marriage or adoption.

Respite care service—A regular, intermittent or emergency service which provides the primary caregiver of a functionally dependent older adult or other adult suffering from a chronic dementia such as Alzheimer’s Disease with relief from normal caregiving duties and responsibilities.

Same residence—A house, apartment, mobile home, group of rooms, or single room, occupied as separate living quarters.

Secretary—The Secretary of the Department.

Notation

Cross References

This section cited in 6 Pa. Code § 20.21 (relating to eligibility for Program benefits).