Sec. 10.21.08.02. Definitions

A. The following terms have the meanings indicated.

B. Terms Defined.

(1) "Administration" means the Maryland Department of Health Administration.

(2) "Audiologist" means an individual who is authorized to practice audiology under Health Occupations Article, Title 2, Annotated Code of Maryland.

(3) "Certified interpreter for hearing impaired persons" means an interpreter who possesses at the minimum a Comprehensive Skills Certificate issued by the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf.

(4) "Documented history of deafness or hearing impairment" means a documented diagnosis of hearing impairment made by an audiologist or by a Board-eligible or Board-certified otolaryngologist.

(5) "Facility" means an inpatient or residential treatment program operated directly by the Administration.

(6) "Gross testing" means either an interactive process which screens a person's ability to follow ordinary conversation or pure tone audiometric screening.

(7) "Hearing aid" means any instrument or device designed for or represented as aiding, improving, or correcting hearing and any parts, attachments, or accessories of this instrument or device.

(8) "Hearing impaired individual" means a person with an impairment so severe that with or without amplification, the processing of linguistic information through hearing is impaired.

(9) "Individual treatment plan" means the plan of care identified for each patient as outlined in COMAR 10.21.03.

(10) "Mental illness" means an illness resulting from a psychiatric disorder and does not include a primary diagnosis of alcohol or drug abuse or developmental disability.

(11) "Otolaryngologist" means a physician identified by the State Board of Physician Quality Assurance as a specialist in otolaryngology as set forth in Health Occupations Article, §14-704, Annotated Code of Maryland.

(12) "Physician" means an individual who is authorized to practice medicine under Health Occupations Article, Title 14, Annotated Code of Maryland.

(13) "Pure tone audiometric screening" means the pure tone air conduction screening procedure used to rapidly and effectively identify a patient with a hearing impairment that interferes with or has the potential for interfering with communication.

(14) "Qualified allied health professional" means the staff assigned by the facility and trained by an audiologist in procedures outlined in this chapter.

(15) "Rinne and Weber testing" means the tuning fork test used to differentiate between conductive and sensory-neural hearing losses.

(16) "Speech-language pathologist" means an individual who is authorized to practice speech-language pathology under Health Occupations Article, Title 19, Annotated Code of Maryland.

(17) "Speech reading" means the use of visual cues in determining what the speaker is saying and may also be referred to as lip reading.

(18) "Unit" means the inpatient unit of the institution designated by the Administration created specifically to treat those patients having both a mental illness and a hearing impairment.