New Mexico Administrative Code › Title 7 - HEALTH › Chapter 20 - MENTAL HEALTH › Part 11 - CERTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS FOR CHILD AND ADOLESCENT MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES › Section 7.20.11.17 - ALLEGATIONS OF ABUSE/NEGLECT, COMPLAINTS, AND SERIOUS INCIDENT REPORTING

Current through Register Vol. 35, No. 13, July 16, 2024
A. The agency
				maintains and follows policies and procedures consistent with these
				certification requirements for timely reporting of any serious incidents and
				allegations of abuse or neglect. The agency immediately reports allegations of
				abuse or neglect to all appropriate entities, including but not limited to the
				protective services division of the department via statewide ventral
				intake/tribal social services agency, the client's legal guardian, the
				jurisdictional law enforcement agency, and the LCA.
B. The agency reports all serious incidents
				to the LCA by fax within 24 hours of any staff member becoming aware of the
				incident or allegation of incident. Incidents involving minor illnesses or
				injuries not requiring emergency services do not need to be reported to the
				LCA. Day treatment services, case management services, and behavioral
				management skills development services are not required to report serious
				incidents that do not occur during program hours, with the exception that all
				deaths must be reported.
C.
				Additional reporting requirements for deaths: Deaths are reported to the LCA
				immediately by telephone and followed by fax within 24 hours, whether or not
				the death occurs during program hours. Agencies are required to report any
				client death to the regional office of the federal centers for medicare and
				medicaid services by no later than by the close of business the next business
				day after the client's death, and must document in the client's record that the
				death was reported to the centers for medicare and medicaid services.
D. Each serious incident report is written by
				the staff who have personal or firsthand knowledge of the incident/allegation,
				and is signed and dated by that person(s). Once written, the report is not
				altered, but may be amended. Any amendment is signed and dated by its author
				and filed with the original report. The report clearly distinguishes between
				events witnessed by the reporter and statements made to the reporter. The
				report contains
,
but is not limited to the following
				information regarding the incident: date, time, and location of the incident,
				behavioral description(s) of relevant event(s), descriptions of health/safety
				risk(s) relevant to the incident, identification of person(s) present, birth
				date(s) of client(s) involved, level of care of the client(s) involved, initial
				actions in response to the incident, names of persons providing information to
				the reporter, and identification of other entities receiving the
				report.
E. Each serious incident
				for which a report to the LCA is required herein and that involves possible
				criminal activity is reported immediately to the appropriate law enforcement
				agency.
F. The agency responds in a
				timely manner to protect its clients from physical or psychological risks of
				which it is or reasonably should be aware, in order to reduce and prevent
				future risks.
G. Outcomes,
				dispositions, and descriptions of any voluntary corrective action(s) taken by
				the agency in response to serious incidents are faxed or mailed to the LCA in a
				timely manner.
H. The program will
				not rely on the fact that it has made a serious incident report to the LCA, or
				the fact that it may not have received a response from the LCA, to delay
				appropriate corrective or protective action in response to an
				incident.
I. The agency maintains
				and follows policies and procedures for investigating and responding to
				allegations of abuse or neglect in a confidential and timely manner.
J. The agency maintains and follows policies
				and procedures for investigating and responding to complaints in a timely
				manner.
K. The agency provides a
				written response, in a timely manner, to the complaining party and, as
				applicable, the parent, legal or treatment guardian, regarding the resolution
				of each complaint or allegation.