§ 524.2 - Legal base

Legal base

This section establishes the statutory authority for New York's Office of Mental Health incident management regulations, citing provisions of the Mental Hygiene Law, Executive Law, and Social Services Law. It requires OMH-operated and licensed facilities to investigate and report incidents, abuse, neglect, and patient deaths to the Vulnerable Persons' Central Register and the Justice Center. Facility directors must also notify law enforcement when a crime may have been committed against a patient. This is a legal-base section that inherits the scope of the broader incident management chapter governing OMH-licensed and operated programs.

N.Y. Comp. Codes R. & Regs. Tit. 14 § 524.2 - Legal base 

 State Regulations 

 Compare

(a)
 Section
 
7.07
 of the
 Mental Hygiene Law gives the Office of Mental Health the responsibility for
 seeing that persons with mental illness are provided with care and treatment,
 that such care, treatment and rehabilitation is of high quality and
 effectiveness, and that the personal and civil rights of persons receiving
 care, treatment, and rehabilitation are adequately protected.

(b)
 Section
 
7.09
 of the
 Mental Hygiene Law grants the Commissioner of the Office of Mental Health the
 power and responsibility to adopt regulations that are necessary and proper to
 implement matters under his or her jurisdiction and to set standards of quality
 care.

(c)
 Subdivision (b) of
 Section
 
7.21
 of the
 Mental Hygiene Law requires directors of facilities operated by the Office of
 Mental Health to investigate, or cause to be investigated, every reportable
 incident in accordance with Article 11 of the Social Services Law, and to
 require allegations of abuse and neglect and significant incidents to be
 reported to the Vulnerable Persons' Central Register. Directors of facilities
 must also notify the Vulnerable Persons' Central Register if it appears that a
 crime may have been committed and such Register shall notify law enforcement as
 appropriate. Pursuant to this Section, the Vulnerable Persons' Central Register
 must notify the Board of Visitors and the Mental Hygiene Legal Service of every
 complaint of abuse or neglect and the results of all related
 investigations.

(d)
 Section
 
29.29
 of
 the Mental Hygiene Law requires the establishment of uniform standards and
 procedures for the compilation and analysis of incident reports in facilities
 operated by the Office of Mental Health.

(e)
 Section
 
31.11
 of
 the Mental Hygiene Law requires programs licensed by the Office of Mental
 Health to notify the district attorney or other law enforcement official and
 the Commissioner or his or her authorized representative if it appears that a
 crime may have been committed against a patient.

(f)
 Section
 
31.16
 of
 the Mental Hygiene Law provides that the Commissioner of the Office of Mental
 Health may impose a fine upon a finding that the holder of an operating
 certificate has failed to comply with the provisions of any applicable statute,
 rule, or regulation.

(g)
 Section
 
33.23
 of
 the Mental Hygiene Law requires 24-hour telephone notification of qualified
 persons, as defined in Section 33.16 of such law, of certain incidents that
 occur at facilities.

(h)
 Section
 
33.25
 of
 the Mental Hygiene Law requires the release of records and documents pertaining
 to allegations and investigations of abuse or neglect to qualified persons, as
 defined in Section
 
33.16
 of
 the Mental Hygiene Law, upon their request.

(i)
 Section
 
556
 of the
 Executive Law provides the Justice Center the authority to make recommendations
 of preventive and remedial actions to the Office of Mental Health in response
 to investigations of allegations of abuse or neglect involving
 patients.

(j)
 Section
 
557
 of the
 Executive Law requires that directors of State-operated facilities and
 directors of licensed programs report deaths of individuals in their care and
 any allegations of abuse or neglect to the Justice Center.

(k)
 Article 6, title 6 of the Social Services
 Law requires the reporting of suspected abuse or neglect by a caretaker in a
 foster family care, day care, or family setting of persons under 18 years of
 age to the Statewide Central Register of Child Abuse and
 Maltreatment.

(l)
 Section
 
490
 of the
 Social Services Law requires the Office of Mental Health to promulgate
 regulations governing the development of incident management programs; such
 regulations must be approved by the Justice Center as consistent with its
 standards and guidelines.

(m)

 Sections
 
491
 and
 
492
 of the
 Social Services Law require the reporting of allegations of abuse and neglect
 and significant incidents to the Vulnerable Persons' Central
 Register.

Notes

N.Y. Comp. Codes
 R. & Regs. Tit. 
14

 §
 
524.2

Adopted
 
New
 York State Register December 9, 2015/Volume XXXVII, Issue 49
,
 eff. 
12/9/2015

Amended
 
New
 York State Register August 17, 2016/Volume XXXVIII, Issue 33
,
 eff. 
8/17/2016

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