Virginia Regulatory Town Hall View Comments

Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services

State Board of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services

Guidance Document Change: The purpose of this memorandum is to remind DBHDS licensed providers of the requirements and expectations for reporting serious incidents to the DBHDS Office of Licensing, pursuant to 12VAC35-46-1070.C. and 12VAC35-105-160.D.2., including the timeframe for reporting incidents; the process for reporting incidents; the allowable timeframe for adding to, amending, or correcting information reported to the Office of Licensing through the Computerized Human Rights Information System (CHRIS); and to inform providers of the processes that the Office of Licensing will follow for issuing citations, repeat citations and sanctions for violations of serious incident reporting requirements. In addition to ensuring all providers understand the regulatory requirements associated with reporting incidents, the processes outlined in this memo are central to the department’s efforts to address compliance indicators related to serious incident reporting as mandated by the US Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Settlement Agreement with Virginia.

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7/21/20 9:05 am

Commenter: Michele Davis, Norfolk CSB

Reporting Requirements

It is the expectation of the providers to report incidents within 24 hours, even on weekends and holidays, when DBHDS representatives are not available. Please revisit the language of reporting by next business day.

Please provide clarification on tracking of citations. When does the 2 year period start? Is it for the agency as a whole or each licensed program? Is it calendar year, fiscal year, or rolling 2 years?

As opposed to having a concrete number defining the progressive action, identifying a percentage and adjusting the time period of review would provide a more accurate reflection of trends of non-compliance.

Requiring updates to be provided in 48 hours does not allow much time for information to be gathered. It seems that licensing specialists will be getting inundated with "updates" that only state "there is no update". Additionally, for programs that do no provide services on weekends, there would be no staff available to provide an update to an incident that may have occurred within that 48 hour window.

The punitive nature of this guidance does not uphold a collaborative relationship between providers and DBHDS and it is difficult to see how it will actually improve the services we are providing to individuals in the community.

CommentID: 83917