Terms Used In Rhode Island General Laws > Chapter 5-34.3 - Nurse Licensure Compact

• Adverse action: means a home or remote state action. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-34.3-4
• AFDC: means aid to families with dependent children. See Rhode Island General Laws 40-6.4-2
• 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.
• Affirmed: In the practice of the appellate courts, the decree or order is declared valid and will stand as rendered in the lower court.
• Alternative program: means a voluntary, nondisciplinary monitoring program approved by a nurse licensing board. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-34.3-4
• 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.
• Answer: The formal written statement by a defendant responding to a civil complaint and setting forth the grounds for defense.
• 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.
• Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
• Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
• 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.
• Bankruptcy: Refers to statutes and judicial proceedings involving persons or businesses that cannot pay their debts and seek the assistance of the court in getting a fresh start. Under the protection of the bankruptcy court, debtors may discharge their debts, perhaps by paying a portion of each debt. Bankruptcy judges preside over these proceedings.
• Base year: means , for the purpose of calculating a disproportionate share payment for any fiscal year ending after September 30, 2022, the period from October 1, 2020, through September 30, 2021, and for any fiscal year ending after September 30, 2023, the period from October 1, 2021, through September 30, 2022. See Rhode Island General Laws 40-8.3-2
• 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}
• Benefit: means pecuniary benefit as defined herein. See Rhode Island General Laws 40-8.2-2
• CCAP: means "Child Care Assistance Program" the program administered by the department of human services that provides financial assistance to families for child care. See Rhode Island General Laws 40-6.6-2
• CCAP family childcare provider: means an individual who:

  (i)  Participates in CCAP as a department of human services CCAP approved provider; and

  (ii)  Is either licensed by the department of children, youth and families to provide childcare services in the provider's own home, or license exempt but approved by the department of human services to participate in CCAP. See Rhode Island General Laws 40-6.6-2

• Charity: An agency, institution, or organization in existence and operating for the benefit of an indefinite number of persons and conducted for educational, religious, scientific, medical, or other beneficent purposes.
• Claim: means any request for payment, electronic or otherwise, and shall also include any data commonly known as encounter data, that is used, or is to be used, for the development of a capitation fee payable to a provider of managed healthcare goods, merchandise, or services. See Rhode Island General Laws 40-8.2-2
• Commission: means the interstate commission of nurse licensure compact administrators, the governing body of the nurse licensure compact. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-34.3-4
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Continuance: Putting off of a hearing ot trial until a later time.
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• Coordinated licensure information system: means an integrated process for collecting, storing, and sharing information on nurse licensure and enforcement activities related to nurse licensure laws, which is administered by a nonprofit organization composed of and controlled by state nurse licensing boards. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-34.3-4
• Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
• Current significant investigative information: means investigative information that a licensing board, after a preliminary inquiry that includes notification and an opportunity for the nurse to respond if required by state law, has reason to believe is not groundless and, if proved true, would indicate more than a minor infraction; or investigative information that indicates that the nurse represents an immediate threat to public health and safety regardless of whether the nurse has been notified and had an opportunity to respond. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-34.3-4
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• 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: shall mean the Rhode Island department of human services. See Rhode Island General Laws 40-6-1
• Department: means the state department of human services. See Rhode Island General Laws 40-6.4-2
• 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 the department of human services. See Rhode Island General Laws 40-6.4-2
• Director: means the director of the department of administration. See Rhode Island General Laws 40-6.6-2
• Director: means the director of human services. See Rhode Island General Laws 40-8-2
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• Dismissal: The dropping of a case by the judge without further consideration or hearing. ^Source:
• 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
• Electronic funds transfer: The transfer of money between accounts by consumer electronic systems-such as automated teller machines (ATMs) and electronic payment of bills-rather than by check or cash. (Wire transfers, checks, drafts, and paper instruments do not fall into this category.) ^{Source: OCC}
• Employed: means the individual with disabilities is engaged in a work effort that meets substantial and reasonable threshold criteria for hours of work, wages, or other measures, as defined by the department of human services and as permitted by federal law. See Rhode Island General Laws 40-8.7-4
• Employment support services: means activities needed to sustain paid work including: benefits counseling; supervision; job coaching; vocational evaluation; case management; job development; customized employment; job training; transportation; training; tools; equipment; and technology, subject to Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services approval. See Rhode Island General Laws 40-8.7-4
• Encumbrance: means a revocation or suspension of, or any limitation placed on, the full and unrestricted practice of nursing imposed by a licensing board. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-34.3-4
• Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. ^{Source: U.S. Courts}
• 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.
• Ex officio: Literally, by virtue of one's office.
• Executive office: means the executive office of health and human services, the agency designated by state law and the Medicaid state plan as the Medicaid single state agency. See Rhode Island General Laws 40-8.2-2
• 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.
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• Garnishment: Generally, garnishment is a court proceeding in which a creditor asks a court to order a third party who owes money to the debtor or otherwise holds assets belonging to the debtor to turn over to the creditor any of the debtor
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• 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.
• Home state: means the party state which is the nurse's primary state of residence. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-34.3-4
• 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
• Indemnification: In general, a collateral contract or assurance under which one person agrees to secure another person against either anticipated financial losses or potential adverse legal consequences. ^{Source: FDIC}
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• 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

• Interrogatories: Written questions asked by one party of an opposing party, who must answer them in writing under oath; a discovery device in a lawsuit.
• Joint committee: Committees including membership from both houses of teh legislature. Joint committees are usually established with narrow jurisdictions and normally lack authority to report legislation.
• 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.
• Kickback: means a return in any form by any individual of a part of an expenditure made by a provider:

  (i)  To the same provider;

  (ii)  To an entity controlled by the provider; or

  (iii)  To an entity that the provider intends to benefit whenever the expenditure is reimbursed, or reimbursable, or claimed by a provider as being reimbursable by the Rhode Island Medicaid program and when the sum or value returned is not credited to the benefit of the Rhode Island Medicaid program. See Rhode Island General Laws 40-8.2-2

• Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). ^{Source: OCC}
• Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
• Licensing board: means a party state's regulatory body responsible for issuing nurse licenses. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-34.3-4
• 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).
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• Medicaid fraud control unit: means a duly certified Medicaid fraud control unit under federal regulation authorized to perform those functions as described by § 1903(q) of the Social Security Act, Rhode Island General Laws 40-8.2-2
• Medically unnecessary services or merchandise: means services or merchandise provided to recipients intentionally without any expectation that the services or merchandise will alleviate or aid the recipient's medical condition. See Rhode Island General Laws 40-8.2-2
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• Multistate licensure: means a license to practice as a registered nurse (RN) or a licensed practical nurse/vocational nurse (LPN/VN) issued by a home state licensing board, that authorizes the licensed nurse to practice in all party states under a multistate licensure privilege. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-34.3-4
• Multistate licensure privilege: means current, official authority from a remote state permitting the practice of nursing as either a registered nurse or a licensed practical/vocational nurse in such party state. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-34.3-4
• National Bank: A bank that is subject to the supervision of the Comptroller of the Currency. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is a bureau of the U.S. Treasury Department. A national bank can be recognized because it must have "national" or "national association" in its name. ^{Source: OCC}
• Nurse: means a registered nurse or licensed practical/vocational nurse, as those terms are defined by each party's state practice laws. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-34.3-4
• 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

• Oath: A promise to tell the truth.
• oath: includes affirmation; the word "sworn" includes affirmed; and the word "engaged" includes either sworn or affirmed. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-11
• 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.
• Participating hospital: means any nongovernment and nonpsychiatric hospital that:

  (i)  Was licensed as a hospital in accordance with chapter 17 of Title 23 during the base year and shall mean the actual facilities and buildings in existence in Rhode Island, licensed pursuant to § 23-17-1 et seq. See Rhode Island General Laws 40-8.3-2

• 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.
• Party state: means any state that has adopted this compact. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-34.3-4
• Person: means any person or individual, natural or otherwise, and includes those person(s) or entities defined by the term "provider. See Rhode Island General Laws 40-8.2-2
• 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.
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• 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
• Probation: A sentencing alternative to imprisonment in which the court releases convicted defendants under supervision as long as certain conditions are observed.
• Prosecute: To charge someone with a crime. A prosecutor tries a criminal case on behalf of the government.
• Provider: means any individual, individual medical vendor, firm, corporation, professional association, partnership, organization, or other legal entity that provides goods or services under the Rhode Island Medicaid program, or the employee of any person or entity who, on his or her own behalf, or on the behalf of his or her employer, knowingly performs any act or is knowingly responsible for an omission prohibited by this chapter. See Rhode Island General Laws 40-8.2-2
• Provider organization: means an organization that includes CCAP family childcare providers and has as one of its purposes the representation of CCAP family childcare providers in their relations with the state. See Rhode Island General Laws 40-6.6-2
• Public assistance: means general public assistance (GPA); supplemental security income (SSI); RI works pursuant to chapter 5. See Rhode Island General Laws 40-6-1
• Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do business.
• 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.
• Recipient: means any person receiving medical assistance under the Rhode Island Medicaid program. See Rhode Island General Laws 40-8.2-2
• Records: means all documents developed by a provider and related to the provision of services reimbursed or claimed as reimbursable by the Rhode Island Medicaid program. See Rhode Island General Laws 40-8.2-2
• 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.
• Remote state: means a party state, other than the home state, where the patient is located at the time nursing care is provided, or, in the case of the practice of nursing not involving a patient, in such party state where the recipient of nursing practice is located. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-34.3-4
• Remote state action: means any administrative, civil, equitable or criminal action permitted by a remote state's laws which are imposed on a nurse by the remote state's licensing board or other authority including actions against an individual's multistate licensure privilege to practice in the remote state, and cease and desist and other injunctive or equitable orders issued by remote states or the licensing boards thereof. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-34.3-4
• representative: means a provider organization that is certified as the exclusive negotiating representative of CCAP family childcare providers as provided in Rhode Island General Laws 40-6.6-2
• Rhode Island Medicaid program: means a state-administered, medical assistance program that is funded by the state and federal governments under Title XIX and Title XXI of the U. See Rhode Island General Laws 40-8.2-2
• seal: shall be construed to include an impression of the seal made with or without the use of wax or wafer on the paper. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-15
• Secretary: means the secretary of the Rhode Island executive office of health and human services. See Rhode Island General Laws 40-8-6.1
• Service of process: The service of writs or summonses to the appropriate party.
• 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.
• Single-state license: means a nurse license issued by a party state that authorizes practice only within the issuing state and does not include a multistate licensure privilege to practice in any other party state. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-34.3-4
• State: means a state, territory, or possession of the United States, the District of Columbia. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-34.3-4
• State practice laws: means those individual party's state laws and regulations that govern the practice of nursing, define the scope of nursing practice, and create the methods and grounds for imposing discipline. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-34.3-4
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Statute of limitations: A law that sets the time within which parties must take action to enforce their rights.
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• Subpoena duces tecum: A command to a witness to produce documents.
• Testify: Answer questions in court.
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• 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
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• Uncompensated-care costs: means , as to any hospital, the sum of: (i) The cost incurred by the hospital during the base year for inpatient or outpatient services attributable to charity care (free care and bad debts) for which the patient has no health insurance or other third-party coverage less payments, if any, received directly from such patients; and (ii) The cost incurred by the hospital during the base year for inpatient or outpatient services attributable to Medicaid beneficiaries less any Medicaid reimbursement received therefor; multiplied by the uncompensated-care index. See Rhode Island General Laws 40-8.3-2
• Uncompensated-care index: means the annual percentage increase for hospitals established pursuant to § 27-19-14 [repealed] for each year after the base year, up to and including the payment year; provided, however, that the uncompensated-care index for the payment year ending September 30, 2007, shall be deemed to be five and thirty-eight hundredths percent (5. See Rhode Island General Laws 40-8.3-2
• United States: include the several states and the territories of the United States. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-8
• Venue: The geographical location in which a case is tried.