(a) Within the continuum of human services offered by OPWDD (see section 680.13 of this Part), the specialty hospital (see section 680.13) is designed as the most intensive provider of care for individuals with developmental disability and health care problems (see section 680.13) through an integrated combination of assessment services, active programming, continuing medical treatment, and residential arrangements.

(b) The specialty hospital serves as a transitional setting which has as its primary goal the prevention, amelioration or limitation of health care problems for individuals with developmental disabilities to enable the movement of such individuals to less restrictive environments.

(c) Because active programming, medical treatment and residence are combined in a single setting, the specialty hospital is considered as the most restrictive environment which offers 24-hour care to people with developmental disabilities whose health problems, rather than developmental disability per se, prevent placement in an alternative, less restrictive placement.

(d) Individuals admitted to a specialty hospital shall have a previously established diagnosis of developmental disability (see section 680.13) and shall require:

(e) Services within a specialty hospital shall be oriented toward ameliorating the health care problem(s) preventing a client's movement to the least restrictive treatment alternative (see section 680.13). Therefore, health care problems preventing such movement shall be identified for individuals prior to their admission to a specialty hospital. Services focused on these identified problems shall be delivered with the frequency and intensity necessary to affect a rapid transition to less restrictive treatment alternatives. In general, comprehensive programming aimed toward a general increase in all aspects of individual functioning is not the primary emphasis of specialty hospitals.