Overview and Definitions

The Division of Drug and Alcohol Program Licensure's main mission is to ensure that the citizens of the Commonwealth are afforded the appropriate treatment for their drug and/or alcohol abuse or addiction within a safe environment. As such, the Division is the regulatory agency responsible for the licensure of drug and alcohol facilities operating in the Commonwealth. All persons, partnerships, corporations, or other legal entities intending to provide drug and alcohol treatment services are required to be licensed for the specific drug and alcohol activity or activities being provided. A drug and alcohol setting may be either free-standing or under the administration of a health care facility. Activities for which licensure is required include:

Inpatient hospital - the provision of detoxification or treatment and rehabilitation services, or both, 24 hours a day, in a hospital. The hospital shall be licensed by the Department (of Health) as an acute care or general hospital.

Inpatient non-hospital - a non-hospital, residential facility, providing one or both of the following services: treatment and rehabilitation or detoxification.The client resides at the facility.

Inpatient non-hospital transitional living - the provision of supportive services in a semiprotected home-like environment to assist a client in his gradual reentry into the community. No formal treatment (counseling/psychotherapy) takes place at the facility. This is a live-in/work-out situation.

Intake, evaluation and referral - the provision of intake and referral by a facility designated by the Single County Authority to perform those services centrally for two or more facilities within that Single County Authority. A Single County Authority (SCA) is the county level of government or its designee responsible to plan, fund and administer drug and alcohol activities in a specific county or joinder of counties.

Outpatient - the provision of counseling or psychotherapeutic services on a regular and predetermined schedule. The client resides outside the facility.

Partial hospitalization - the provision of psychiatric, psychological, social and other therapies on a planned and regularly scheduled basis. Partial hospitalization is designed for those clients who would benefit from more intensive services than are offered in outpatient treatment projects, but who do not require 24 hour inpatient care.

Psychiatric hospital - the provision of detoxification or treatment and rehabilitation services, or both, 24 hours a day, in a psychiatric hospital. The psychiatric hospital shall be approved as such by the Department of Public Welfare.

Drug and Alcohol Settings

Freestanding treatment facility - the setting in which drug and alcohol treatment services take place that is not located in a health care facility. The majority of drug and alcohol facilities take place in a freestanding treatment facility.

Health care facility - includes:

A general, tuberculosis, chronic disease or other type of hospital - but not hospitals caring exclusively for the mentally ill - a skilled nursing facility, home health care agency, intermediate care facility, ambulatory surgical facility or birth center - regardless of whether the health care facility is created for profit, nonprofit, or by an agency of the Commonwealth or local government. The term does not include an office used primarily for the private practice of medicine, osteopathy, optometry, chiropractic, podiatry or dentistry; nor a program which renders treatment or care for drug or alcohol abuse or dependence, unless located within a health facility; nor a facility providing treatment solely on the basis of prayer or spiritual means.

The term does not include a mental retardation facility except to the extent that it provides skilled nursing care. The term does not apply to a facility which is conducted by a religious organization for the purpose of providing health care services exclusively to clergymen or other persons in a religious profession who are members of a religious denomination.

Licensing Procedures

Minimally, an annual on-site licensing inspection is conducted at each licensed facility. Following the inspection, the facility is sent a “Statement of Deficiencies” report, also referred to as a “2567” and if deficiencies were identified during the inspection, the facility is required to submit a plan of correction (POC) identifying how, by whom, and when the deficiencies will be corrected.

Following the Division's approval of the POC, a certificate of licensure or certificate of compliance is issued. A certificate of licensure is issued to freestanding treatment facilities and a certificate of compliance is issued to a health care facility.

Depending on the number and type of deficiencies cited, a full or provisional certificate may be issued. A full certificate of licensure or compliance is issued when it has been determined that the requirements for licensure have been met. A full certificate of licensure or compliance may not exceed a 12-month time period.

A provisional certificate of licensure or compliance is issued when it has been determined that the requirements for licensure have been substantially, but not completely met and the facility is complying with a course of correction approved by the Department. A provisional certificate of licensure or compliance may not exceed a six-month time period and may be renewed no more than three times.