Ohio Administrative Code › Title 173 - Department of Aging › Chapter 173-14 - State Long Term Care Ombudsman › Section 173-14-22 - Initial designation of regional long-term care ombudsman programs: standards

Current through all regulations passed and filed through July 1, 2024
(A) No sponsoring agency shall serve as a
			 regional long-term care ombudsman program unless it has been designated as such
			 by the SLTCO.
(B) Except as
			 otherwise provided in paragraph (A) of this rule, no sponsoring agency shall be
			 fully designated as a regional program unless it has complied with all the
			 following required structural standards:
(1)
			 The sponsoring agency shall be a tax-exempt organization.
(2) The sponsoring agency shall have a
			 governing board with responsibility to set policy for the regional program;
			 provide ongoing leadership; ensure compliance with all program and contract
			 requirements, all relevant federal and state statutes, regulations, and
			 policies; and ensure program integrity and stability. A majority of the members
			 on the sponsoring agency's governing board shall not have a conflict of
			 interest.
(3) No sponsoring agency,
			 nor any member of its administrative staff that has responsibilities related to
			 the ombudsman program, shall hold an unremedied conflict of interest.
(4) The sponsoring agency shall retain the
			 type of staff required under rule
			 173-14-14
			 of the Administrative Code.
(5) The
			 sponsoring agency shall maintain an incoming toll-free telephone line dedicated
			 to the regional ombudsman program to be answered during normal business hours
			 by a representative of the office.
(6) The sponsoring agency shall have the
			 capacity to develop policies and procedures that conform to all federal and
			 state statutes, regulations, and policies. Within six months of designation,
			 the sponsoring agency shall 
									provide all such regional program policies and
			 procedures to the SLTCO. The SLTCO shall review for approval all regional
			 program policies and procedures. The sponsoring agency shall make all the
			 following regional program policies and procedures available to all
			 representatives in the regional program:
(a)
			 Complaint prioritization.
(b) Case
			 assignment.
(c) Recruiting,
			 screening, training, and supervising volunteers.
(d) Implementation of the conflict of
			 interest remedies for potential employees, representatives, and policy board
			 members, if those remedies are approved by the SLTCO.
(e) Procedures for handling conflicts of
			 interest that arise during the course of providing core ombudsman
			 services.
(f) Participation in the
			 regulatory agencies' survey and certification processes, including performance
			 within the federal regulations; balancing program priorities; and specifying
			 when to attend an exit conference; a statement of the information the ombudsman
			 
										gives to the survey team; specifying that
			 representatives with a noted conflict of interest may not participate in the
			 certification process of that provider.
(g) Personnel policies for representatives of
			 the office.
(7)
									The sponsoring agency shall maintain nonprofit
			 directors and officers liability insurance.