Section 1570.2 Of Article 1. General Provisions From California Health And Safety Code >> Division 2. >> Chapter 3.3. >> Article 1.
1570.2
. The Legislature hereby finds and declares that there exists
a pattern of overutilization of long-term institutional care for
elderly persons or adults with disabilities, and that there is an
urgent need to establish and to continue a community-based system of
quality adult day health care which will enable elderly persons or
adults with disabilities to maintain maximum independence. While
recognizing that there continues to be a substantial need for
facilities providing custodial care, overreliance on this type of
care has proven to be a costly panacea in both financial and human
terms, often traumatic, and destructive of continuing family
relationships and the capacity for independent living.
It is, therefore, the intent of the Legislature in enacting this
chapter and related provisions to provide for the development of
policies and programs that will accomplish the following:
(a) Ensure that elderly persons and adults with disabilities are
not institutionalized inappropriately or prematurely.
(b) Provide a viable alternative to institutionalization for those
elderly persons and adults with disabilities who are capable of
living at home with the aid of appropriate health care or
rehabilitative and social services.
(c) Establish adult day health centers in the community for this
purpose, that will be easily accessible to all participants,
including economically disadvantaged elderly persons and adults with
disabilities, and that will provide outpatient health,
rehabilitative, and social services necessary to permit the
participants to maintain personal independence and lead meaningful
lives.
(d) Include the services of adult day health centers as a benefit
under the Medi-Cal Act, that shall be an initial and integral part in
the development of an overall plan for a coordinated, comprehensive
continuum of optional long-term care services based upon appropriate
need.
(e) Establish a rural alternative adult day health care program
designed to meet the special needs and requirements of rural areas to
enable the implementation of subdivisions (a) through (d),
inclusive, for all Californians in need of those services.
(f) Ensure that all laws, regulations, and procedures governing
adult day health care be enforced equitably regardless of
organizational sponsorship and that all program flexibility
provisions be administered equitably.