GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

SESSION 1997

 

 

SESSION LAW 1998-97

SENATE BILL 1149

 

 

AN ACT TO REPEAL THE REQUIREMENT PERTAINING TO THE REIMBURSEMENT RATE FOR THE RESPITE CARE PROGRAM.

 

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

 

Section 1.  G.S. 143B-181.10(c) reads as rewritten:

"(c)      Respite care services provided by the programs established by this section may include:

(1)       Counseling and training in the caregiving role, including coping mechanisms and behavior modification techniques;

(2)       Counseling and accessing available local, regional, and State services;

(3)       Support group development and facilitation;

(4)       Assessment and care planning for the patient of the caregiver;

(5)       Attendance and companion services for the patient in order to provide release time to the caregiver;

(6)       Personal care services, including meal preparation, for the patient of the caregiver;

(7)       Temporarily placing the person out of his home to provide the caregiver total respite when the mental or physical stress on the caregiver necessitates this type of respite.

Program funds may provide no more than the current adult care reimbursement rate for out of home placement.  An out of home placement is defined as placement in a hospital, skilled or intermediate nursing facility, adult care home, adult day health center, or adult day care center. Duration of the service period may extend beyond a year."

Section 2.  The Division of Aging of the Department of Health and Human Services shall report to the North Carolina Study Commission on Aging no later than October 1, 1999, the impact on Respite Care Program services and funds of the repeal of the statutory limitation on the reimbursement rate for out-of-home placement which limits reimbursement to the current adult care reimbursement rate.

Section 3. This act is effective when it becomes law and expires July 1, 2000.

In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 4th day of August, 1998.

s/   Dennis A. Wicker

President of the Senate

 

s/   Harold J. Brubaker

Speaker of the House of Representatives

 

s/   James B. Hunt, Jr.

Governor

 

Approved 8:55 a.m. this 14th day of August, 1998