Arizona mental health agencies are prohibited from mistreating clients or allowing staff to mistreat clients, with mistreatment defined broadly to include abuse, neglect, exploitation, corporal punishment, verbal abuse, improper restraint/seclusion, and punitive transfers. Agencies must report all allegations of mistreatment to the Office of Human Rights and the health plan, report abuse/neglect/exploitation to appropriate authorities, and document all such reports. Violations can result in license suspension or revocation, loss of financial assistance, and employee disciplinary action up to dismissal. The identities of persons making mistreatment reports must be kept confidential except as needed for investigation.
View official sourceAriz. Admin. Code § R9-21-203 - Protection from Abuse, Neglect, Exploitation, and Mistreatment State Regulations Compare A. No mental health agency shall mistreat a client or permit the mistreatment of a client by staff subject to its direction. Mistreatment includes any intentional, reckless or negligent action or omission which exposes a client to a serious risk of physical or emotional harm. Mistreatment includes but is not limited to: 1. Abuse, neglect, or exploitation; 2. Corporal punishment; 3. Any other unreasonable use or degree of force or threat of force not necessary to protect the client or another person from bodily harm; 4. Infliction of mental or verbal abuse, such as screaming, ridicule, or name calling; 5. Incitement or encouragement of clients or others to mistreat a client; 6. Transfer or the threat of transfer of a client for punitive reasons; 7. Restraint or seclusion used as a means of coercion, discipline, convenience, or retaliation; 8. Any act in retaliation against a client for reporting any violation of the provisions of this Chapter to the Administration; or 9. Commercial exploitation. B. The following special sanctions shall be available to the Department and/or the Administration, in addition to those set forth in 9 A.A.C. 10, Article 10 of the Department's rules, to protect the interests of the client involved as well as other current and former clients of the mental health agency. 1. Mistreatment of a client by staff or persons subject to the direction of a mental health agency may be grounds for suspension or revocation of the license of the mental health agency or the provision of financial assistance, and, with respect to employees of the mental health agency, grounds for disciplinary action, which may include dismissal. 2. Failure of an employee of the Administration to report any instance of mistreatment within any mental health agency subject to this Chapter shall be grounds for disciplinary action, which may include dismissal. 3. Failure of a mental health agency to report client deaths and allegations of sexual and physical abuse to the Administration and to comply with the procedures described in Article 4 of this Chapter for the processing and investigation of grievances and reports shall be grounds for revocation of provider participation agreement of the mental health agency or the provision of financial assistance, and, with respect to a service provider directly operated by the Department, grounds for disciplinary action, which may include dismissal. 4. A mental health agency shall report all allegations of mistreatment and denial of rights to the Office of Human Rights and the health plan for review and monitoring in accordance with R9-21-105 . C. A mental health agency shall report all incidents of abuse, neglect, or exploitation to the appropriate authorities as required by A.R.S. § 46-454 and shall document all such reports in the mental health agency's records. D. If a mental health agency has reasonable cause to believe that a felony relevant to the functioning of the program has been committed by staff persons subject to the agency's direction, a report shall be filed with the county attorney. E. The identity of persons making reports of abuse, neglect, exploitation, or mistreatment shall not be disclosed by the mental health agency or by the Administration, except as necessary to investigate the subject matter of the report. Notes Ariz. Admin. Code § R9-21-203 Adopted under an exemption from A.R.S. Title 41, Chapter 6 pursuant to Laws 1992, Ch. 301, § 61, effective October 7, 1992; received in the Office of the Secretary of State October 14, 1992 (Supp. 92-4). Amended under an exemption from A.R.S. Title 41, Chapter 6 pursuant to Laws 1992, Ch. 301, §61, effective September 30, 1993 (Supp. 93-3). Amended by exempt rulemaking at 9 A.A.R. 3296, effective June 30, 2003 (Supp. 03-2). Amended by final rulemaking at 22 A.A.R. 2019 , effective 7/12/2016 . Amended by final rulemaking at 29 A.A.R. 898 , effective 5/30/2023 . State regulations are updated quarterly; we currently have two versions available. Below is a comparison between our most recent version and the prior quarterly release. More comparison features will be added as we have more versions to compare. No prior version found. State Regulations Toolbox