Terms Used In Rhode Island General Laws > Chapter 40-8 - Medical Assistance

• Affidavit: A written statement of facts confirmed by the oath of the party making it, before a notary or officer having authority to administer oaths.
• Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
• Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Attorney-in-fact: A person who, acting as an agent, is given written authorization by another person to transact business for him (her) out of court.
• Beneficiary: A person who is entitled to receive the benefits or proceeds of a will, trust, insurance policy, retirement plan, annuity, or other contract. ^{Source: OCC}
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• Decedent: A deceased person.
• Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Department: means the department of human services. See Rhode Island General Laws 40-8-2
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• Director: means the director of human services. See Rhode Island General Laws 40-8-2
• Drug: means and includes only drugs and biologicals prescribed by a licensed dentist or physician as are either included in the United States pharmacopoeia, national formulary, or are new and nonofficial drugs and remedies. See Rhode Island General Laws 40-8-2
• Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
• Executor: A male person named in a will to carry out the decedent
• Fair market value: The price at which an asset would change hands in a transaction between a willing, informed buyer and a willing, informed seller.
• Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
• Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
• Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
• in writing: include printing, engraving, lithographing, and photo-lithographing, and all other representations of words in letters of the usual form. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-16
• Inpatient: means a person admitted to and under treatment or care of a physician or surgeon in a hospital or nursing facility that meets standards of and complies with rules and regulations promulgated by the director. See Rhode Island General Laws 40-8-2
• Inpatient hospital services: means the following items and services furnished to an inpatient in a hospital other than a hospital, institution, or facility for tuberculosis or mental diseases:

  (i)  Bed and board;

  (ii)  Nursing services and other related services as are customarily furnished by the hospital for the care and treatment of inpatients and drugs, biologicals, supplies, appliances, and equipment for use in the hospital, as are customarily furnished by the hospital for the care and treatment of patients;

  (iii)(A)  Other diagnostic or therapeutic items or services, including, but not limited to, pathology, radiology, and anesthesiology furnished by the hospital or by others under arrangements made by the hospital, as are customarily furnished to inpatients either by the hospital or by others under such arrangements, and services as are customarily provided to inpatients in the hospital by an intern or resident-in-training under a teaching program having the approval of the Council on Medical Education and Hospitals of the American Medical Association or of any other recognized medical society approved by the director. See Rhode Island General Laws 40-8-2

• Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
• Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• Life estate: A property interest limited in duration to the life of the individual holding the interest (life tenant).
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• Nursing services: means the following items and services furnished to an inpatient in a nursing facility:

  (i)  Bed and board;

  (ii)  Nursing care and other related services as are customarily furnished to inpatients admitted to the nursing facility, and drugs, biologicals, supplies, appliances, and equipment for use in the facility, as are customarily furnished in the facility for the care and treatment of patients;

  (iii)  Other diagnostic or therapeutic items or services, legally furnished by the facility or by others under arrangements made by the facility, as are customarily furnished to inpatients either by the facility or by others under such arrangement;

  (iv)  Medical services provided in the facility by the inpatient's physician, or by an intern or resident-in-training of a hospital with which the facility is affiliated or that is under the same control, under a teaching program of the hospital approved as provided in subsection (6); and

  (v)  A personal-needs allowance of seventy-five dollars ($75. See Rhode Island General Laws 40-8-2

• Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
• Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
• Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
• person: may be construed to extend to and include co-partnerships and bodies corporate and politic. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-6
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Precedent: A court decision in an earlier case with facts and law similar to a dispute currently before a court. Precedent will ordinarily govern the decision of a later similar case, unless a party can show that it was wrongly decided or that it differed in some significant way.
• Probate: Proving a will
• real estate: may be construed to include lands, tenements, and hereditaments and rights thereto and interests therein. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-10
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• Release: means a written document that:

  (1)  Indicates consent to the disclosure to an LTC provider by the secretary or designee;

  (2)  Of information concerning an application for Medicaid benefits filed on behalf of a resident or patient of that LTC provider;

  (3)  For the purpose of ensuring the ability to be paid for its services by that LTC provider; and

  (4)  That includes the following elements:

  (i)  The name of the LTC provider;

  (ii)  A description of the information that may be disclosed under the release;

  (iii)  The name of the person or persons acting on behalf of the LTC provider to whom the information may be disclosed;

  (iv)  The period of time for which the release will be in effect, which may extend from the date of the application for benefits until the expiration of any appeal, or any appeal period, following the determination of that application; and

  (v)  The signature of the Medicaid applicant, or authorized representative, or other person legally authorized to sign on behalf of the Medicaid applicant, such as guardian or attorney-in-fact. See Rhode Island General Laws 40-8-6.1

• Remainder: An interest in property that takes effect in the future at a specified time or after the occurrence of some event, such as the death of a life tenant.
• Secretary: means the secretary of the Rhode Island executive office of health and human services. See Rhode Island General Laws 40-8-6.1
• Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
• town: may be construed to include city; the words "town council" include city council; the words "town clerk" include city clerk; the words "ward clerk" include clerk of election district; the words "town treasurer" include city treasurer; and the words "town sergeant" include city sergeant. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-9
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• United States: include the several states and the territories of the United States. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-8