This provision defines key terms used in the chapter, including aftercare assistance, discharge, facility, hospital, lay caregiver, legal representative, patient, and residence.
As used in this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires: 1. “Aftercare assistance” means any assistance provided by a lay caregiver to a patient following discharge of the patient that involves tasks directly related to the patient’s condition at the time of discharge, does not require a licensed professional, and is determined to be appropriate by the patient’s discharging physician or other licensed health care professional. 2. “Discharge” means the exit or release of a patient from inpatient care in a hospital to the residence of the patient. 3. “Facility” means a health care facility as defined in section 135C.1, an elder group home as defined in section 231B.1, or an assisted living program as defined in section 231C.2. 4. “Hospital” means a licensed hospital as defined in section 135B.1. 5. “Lay caregiver” means an individual, eighteen years of age or older, who is designated as a lay caregiver under this chapter by a patient or the patient’s legal representative, and who is willing and able to perform aftercare assistance for the patient at the patient’s residence following discharge. 6. “Legal representative” means, in order of priority, an attorney in fact under a durable power of attorney for health care pursuant to chapter 144B or, if no durable power of attorney for health care has been executed pursuant to chapter 144B or if the attorney in fact is unavailable, a legal guardian appointed pursuant to chapter 232D or 633. 7. “Patient” means an individual who is receiving or who has received inpatient medical care in a hospital. 8. “Residence” means the dwelling that a patient considers to be the patient’s home. “Residence” does not include any rehabilitation facility, hospital, or facility. 2019 Acts, ch 18, §1; 2020 Acts, ch 1062, §25; 2020 Acts, ch 1063, §62