37.59.102    DEFINITIONS

Unless otherwise indicated, the following definitions apply throughout this chapter:

(1) "Administrative and program services costs" means those direct and indirect costs, exclusive of food costs, as defined in 7 CFR 246.14(c), which the department determines to be necessary to support local agency program operations. Administrative and program services costs include: the costs of program administration, start-up, monitoring, auditing, the development of and accountability for food delivery systems, nutrition and breastfeeding education, outreach, certification, information technology, and developing and printing food benefits.

(2) "Affirmative action plan" means that portion of the department plan which describes how the program will be initiated and expanded within the department's jurisdiction in accordance with 7 CFR 246.4(a).

(3) "Breastfeeding women" means women up to one year postpartum who are breastfeeding their infants.

(4) "Caseload" means the number of persons certified by the local agencies, eligible and participating in the WIC Program at any point in time. Persons certified eligible but wait-listed are not considered to be participating in the WIC Program, and therefore are not included when the department assigns caseload limits or tallying caseload being carried at a point in time.

(5) "Categorical eligibility" means persons who meet the definitions of pregnant women, breastfeeding women, postpartum women, infants, or children.

(6) "Certification" means the application of criteria and procedures to assess and document each applicant's eligibility for the program.

(7) "Children" means persons who have had their first birthday but have not yet attained their fifth birthday.

(8) "Clinic" means a facility where applicants are certified.

(9) "Competent professional authority (CPA)" means an individual on the staff of the local agency authorized to determine nutritional risk and prescribe supplemental foods. The following persons are the only persons the department may authorize to serve as a CPA: physicians, nutritionists (bachelor's or master's degree in nutritional sciences, community nutrition, clinical nutrition, dietetics, public health nutrition, or home economics with emphasis in nutrition), dietitians, registered nurses, physician's assistants (certified by the National Commission on Certification of Physician's Assistants, or certified by the state medical certifying authority), or state or local medically trained health officials. This definition also applies to an individual who is not on the staff of the local agency but who is qualified to provide data upon which nutritional risk determinations are made by a CPA on the staff of the local agency.

(10) "Days" means calendar days.

(11) "Disqualification" means the act of ending the program participation of a participant, authorized retailer, authorized farmer, or local agency, whether as a punitive sanction or for administrative reasons.

(12) "Dual participation" means simultaneous participation in the program in more than one WIC clinic.

(13) "Dyad" means a breastfeeding woman and the infant to whom she is providing breast milk who are participating on WIC.

(14) "Fair hearing" means the procedure through which an individual may appeal a department or local decision which results in denial of program participation, or suspension or termination from the program.

(15) "Family" means a group of related or non-related individuals living together as one economic unit and whose production of income and consumption of goods and services are shared. Residents of a homeless facility or an institution will not be considered as members of a single family. Students who are temporarily away at school may be counted as members of the family.

(16) "Farmer" means an individual authorized by the state agency to sell eligible fruits and vegetables to participants at a farmers' market or roadside stand. Individuals who exclusively sell produce grown by someone else, such as wholesale distributors, cannot be authorized.

(17) "Food costs" means the costs of supplemental foods, determined in accordance with 7 CFR 246.14(b).

(18) "Food delivery system" means the method used by the department and local agencies to provide supplemental foods to participants.

(19) "Food benefit" means a voucher, check, coupon, or electronic benefit transfer which is used by a participant to obtain supplemental foods.

(20) "Food package" means supplemental foods prescribed by a CPA for a WIC participant to meet demonstrated nutritional needs.

(21) "Health services" means ongoing, routine pediatric and obstetric care (such as infant and child care and prenatal and postpartum examinations) or referral for treatment.

(22) "Infants" means persons under one year of age.

(23) "Initial visit" means the first time a person visits a WIC clinic to request program benefits, whether by an in-person inquiry or by telephone.

(24) "Local agency" means:

(a) a public or private, nonprofit health or human service agency which provides health services, either directly or through contract, in accordance with 7 CFR 246.5;

(b) an Indian health service unit;

(c) an Indian tribe, band, or group recognized by the United States Department of the Interior which operates a health clinic or is provided health services by an Indian health service unit; or

(d) an intertribal council or group that is an authorized representative of Indian tribes, bands, or groups recognized by the United States Department of the Interior, which operates a health clinic or is provided health services by an Indian health service unit.

(25) "Members of populations" means persons with a common special nutritional need who do not necessarily reside in a specific geographic area, such as off-reservation Indians or migrant farmworkers and their families.

(26) "Migrant farmworker" means an individual whose principal employment is in agriculture on a seasonal basis, and who has been so employed within the last 24 months, and who establishes, for the purposes of such employment, a temporary abode.

(27) "Monthly participation" means a total number of participants actually receiving benefits in any month, and the breastfeeding dyad member who does not receive food benefits while the other member does.

(28) "Nonprofit agency" means a private agency which is exempt from income tax under the Internal Revenue Code of 1954, as amended.

(29) "Nutrition counseling" means individualized professional guidance to assist a person in adjusting their daily food consumption to meet their health needs.

(30) "Nutrition education" means individual or group education sessions and the provision of information and educational materials designed to improve health status, achieve positive change in dietary habits, and emphasize relationships between nutrition and health, all in keeping with the individual's personal, cultural, and socioeconomic preferences.

(31) "Nutrition services" means nutrition intervention planned for and provided to a participant, such as assessment of nutritional health status, counseling, provision of nutrition information, prescription of a food package, referral to other health, financial, or social services, and evaluation of change in behavior and nutritional health status.

(32) "Nutritional risk" means:

(a) detrimental or abnormal nutritional conditions detectable by biochemical or anthropometric measurements;

(b) their documented nutritionally related medical conditions;

(c) dietary deficiencies that impair or endanger health;

(d) conditions that directly affect the nutritional health of a person; or

(e) conditions that predispose persons to inadequate nutritional patterns or nutritionally related medical conditions.

(33) "Nutritionist" means a professional who meets the academic and experience requirements described in 37-25-102, MCA.

(34) "Participants" means pregnant women, breastfeeding women, postpartum women, infants, and children who are receiving supplemental foods or food benefits under the program, and the breastfeeding dyad member who does not receive food benefits while the other member does.

(35) "Participation" means the number of persons who have received supplemental foods or food benefits during a reporting period, and the breastfeeding dyad member who does not receive food benefits while the other member does.

(36) "Postpartum women" means women up to six months after termination of pregnancy.

(37) "Potential participants" means persons not certified on WIC but who are applying for WIC services, or who have been determined by some statistical means to be eligible for WIC services.

(38) "Poverty income guidelines" means the poverty income guidelines prescribed by the United States Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). These guidelines are adjusted annually by DHHS, with each annual adjustment effective July 1 of each year. The poverty income guidelines prescribed by the DHHS are used for the Montana WIC Program.

(39) "Pregnant women" means women who have one or more embryos or fetuses in utero.

(40) "Priority system" means the ranking applied to persons on a waiting list to ensure that those at highest nutritional risk are the first ones chosen to fill vacancies.

(41) "Program" means the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), authorized by section 17 of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966, as amended.

(42) "Reallocation" means the process by which the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) monies are moved from one state agency which is spending at a lower rate and given to another state agency that is able to spend the money more rapidly due to larger caseloads and a similar process used by the department among local agencies.

(43) "Registered dietitian (RD)" means a professional who meets the academic and experience requirements described in 37-25-302, MCA.

(44) "Retail purchase system" means a system in which the participant obtains WIC foods through an authorized retailer or farmer.

(45) "Retailer" means an entity that, through a signed agreement with the state agency, provides WIC foods in exchange for WIC benefits. Each individual retailer must be contracted separately.

(46) "Satellite" means a WIC clinic operated by the WIC agency which has primary administrative responsibility for a program and contracts directly with the department. A satellite differs from a site in that it is located outside the defined project area, i.e., county or reservation.

(47) "Site" means a single clinic offering services to WIC participants within a defined project area that may contain more than one clinic.

(48) "Staffing pattern" means the recommended ratio of WIC staff to the number of participants served.

(49) "State plan" means the "2014 State Plan for Montana's Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC)", a plan of program operation and administration that describes the manner in which the department intends to implement and operate all aspects of program administration within its jurisdiction in accordance with 7 CFR 246.4.

(50) "Supplemental foods" means those foods containing nutrients determined by nutritional research to be lacking in the diets of pregnant, breastfeeding, and postpartum women, infants, and children, and foods that promote the health of the population served by the WIC Program as indicated by relevant nutrition science, public health concerns, and cultural eating patterns as prescribed by the United States Secretary of Agriculture in 7 CFR 246.10.

(51) "Waiting list" means a list of applicants waiting to be accepted in the WIC Program when vacancies occur.

History: 50-1-202, MCA; IMP, 50-1-202, MCA; NEW, 1988 MAR p. 1528, Eff. 7/15/88; AMD, 1990 MAR p. 227, Eff. 1/26/90; TRANS, from DHES, 2001 MAR p. 982; AMD, 2013 MAR p. 1852, Eff. 10/18/13