Physician’s Report for Residential Care Facilities for the Elderly
We offer house call evaluation for the California Physician's Report for Residencial Care Facilities for the Elderly(RCFE). For late morning appointments, we will have your RCFE form (California Dept of Health and Human Services Form 602A) completed by the end of day. Our physician, upon arrival, will perform the evaluation as required. The evaluation includes a brief medical examination and documentation of medications, diet and activity requirements. Your doctor will then present you with two options for tuberculosis screening, which is required for the RCFE evaluation:
- A skin test for TB may be done by injecting a small quantity of purified protein derivative or PPD, usually on the arm. Then 48-72 hours later the injection site is checked for any inflammatory reaction. If the test is positive, a chest x-ray must be done to screen for active pulmonary tuberculosis infection.
- Alternatively, for patients needing the RCFE form completed quickly, a chest x-ray can be done in place of the PPD. The chest x-ray machine and technician can come to the patient or the x-ray can be done at your nearby imaging facility. Chest x-ray results are usually available within 1 hour when done via portable machine, and the actual x-ray can usually be done same day.
Once the TB screening results are available, the signed completed RCFE form is sent securely to your requesting residential care facility.
California Regulation 87458 states that a residential care facility must “obtain and keep on file, documentation of a medical assessment, signed by a physician, made within the last year”, and must “obtain an updated medical assessment when required by the department.”
If the resident has dementia, Regulation 87705 requires that the physician’s report (or medical assessment) be updated at least annually.
You must also obtain an updated medical assessment if there is a change in condition, or if your Licensing Program Analyst requests it.