Senate Bill S8978

                                
 
BILL NUMBER: S8978

SPONSOR: CARLUCCI
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the mental hygiene law, in relation to providing inci-
dent reports to qualified persons

 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:

The purpose of this legislation is to amend the incident notification
and reporting system

 
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:

Section 1 amends section 33.23 of mental hygiene law to require a facil-
ity to provide information regarding an incident within 10 days of a
request

Section 2 is the effective date.

              

 
JUSTIFICATION:

Mental Hygiene Law requires that parents and guardians of people with
developmental disabilities who live in facilities operated, licensed, or
certified by OPWDD, or OASAS to receive a notification via phone call of
an accident or injury that affects the health or safety of a patient
within twenty-four hours of the incident being reported. The law also
provides these loved ones access to the incident report and any follow
up records on actions taken concerning abuse allegations and mandates
the Director of facilities to offer the opportunity to react to discuss
the incident.

In July of 2019, the State Comptroller's office conducted a review of
incidents reported at OMH facilities over the period of April, 1, 2015
to January 9, 2019 to determine if OMH was in compliance with these
requirements. The Comptroller determined that, because of a misinterpre-
tation of the policy, the only action routinely undertaken by OMH was
providing notification of an incident to qualified persons via telephone
within 24 hours of a report being filed. The families were not being
offered the opportunity to meet to discuss the incident or receive
copies of written reports unless they specifically requested it.

This bill provides clarifying language, which will prevent further
misinterpretations and boost compliance across all state government
facilities subject to the law's provisions. This will improve patient
safety and health by ensuring the proper steps are being taken following
an incident to notify those that should be aware an incident occurred.

Finally, this bill brings the law into the 21st century by allowing
records to be delivered electronically. This added convenience will help
support compliance and may drastically cut down on the time parents,
guardians, and other qualified persons typically have to wait to under-
stand the incident their loved one experienced.

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

New bill

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

None to state

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.