La. Admin. Code tit. 67 § V-6965

Current through Register Vol. 50, No. 9, September 20, 2024

Section V-6965 - Direct Service Management

A. Admission Policies

1. A provider shall have a written description of admission policies and criteria which shall include the following information:

a. the age and sex of clients in care;

b. the needs, problems, situations or patterns best addressed by the provider's program;

c. any other criterion for admission;

d. criteria for discharge;

e. any preplacement requirements on the client, the legally responsible person, DSS, or other involved agencies;

f. procedures for ensuring that placement within the program is the least restrictive alternative appropriate to meet the client's needs.

2. The provider shall, when applicable, have policies and procedures governing self-admission. Such policies and procedures shall include procedures for notification, as appropriate, of the legally responsible person.

3. A provider shall not refuse admission to any client on the grounds of race or ethnic origin.

4. A provider shall not admit more clients into care than the number specified on the provider's license.

5. A provider shall not accept any client for placement whose needs cannot be adequately met by the provider's program.

6. A provider shall ensure that the client; the legally responsible person, when appropriate; and others, as appropriate, are provided reasonable opportunity to participate in the admission process and decisions. Proper consents shall be obtained before admission.

7. When such involvement of the legally responsible person is not possible or not desirable, the reasons for their exclusion shall be recorded in the admission study.

B. Intake Evaluation

1. The provider shall accept a client into care only when a current comprehensive intake evaluation has been completed, including health and family history and medical, social, psychological and, as appropriate, developmental or vocational or educational assessment.

2. In emergency situations necessitating immediate placement into care, the provider shall:

a. gather as much information as possible about the client to be admitted and the circumstances requiring placement;

b. formalize this in an "emergency admission note" within two days of admission; and,

c. proceed with an intake evaluation as quickly as possible. The intake evaluation shall be completed within 30 days of admission.

C. Clarification of Expectations to Client. The provider shall, consistent with the client's maturity and ability to understand, make clear its expectations and requirements for behavior and provide the client referred for placement with an explanation of the provider's criteria for successful participation in and completion of the program.

D. Placement Agreement

1. The provider shall ensure that a written placement agreement is completed. A copy of the placement agreement, signed by all parties involved in its formulation, shall be kept in client's record.

2. A provider shall not admit any client into care whose presence will be seriously damaging to the ongoing functioning of the provider or to clients already in care.

3. The placement agreement should be developed with the involvement of the client and the legally responsible person. The placement agreement shall include, by reference or attachment, at least the following:

a. discussion of the client's and the family's expectations regarding family contact and involvement;

b. nature and goals of care, including any specialized services to be provided;

c. religious orientation and practices of the client;

d. anticipated discharge date and aftercare plan;

e. delineation of the respective roles and responsibilities of all agencies and persons involved with the client and his/her family;

f. authorization to care for the client;

g. authorization to obtain medical care for the client;

h. arrangements regarding visits, vacation, mail, gifts and telephone calls;

i. arrangements as to the nature and frequency of reports to and meetings involving the legally responsible person and referring agency;

j. provision for notification of the legally responsible person in the event of unauthorized absence, illness, accident or any other significant event regarding the client.

4. The provider shall ensure that each client upon placement is checked for illness, fever, rashes, bruises and injury. The client shall be asked if he/she has any physical complaints. The results of this procedure shall be documented and kept in the client's record.

5. The provider shall assign a staff member to orient the client and, where available, the family to life at the provider.

E. Discharge and After Care

1. Prior to planned discharge of a client, the provider's staff should formulate an aftercare plan discussing the supports and resources to be provided to the client and the legally responsible person.

a. Prior to discharge, the provider's staff should ensure that the client is aware of and understands his/her aftercare plan.

b. When a client is being placed in another program following discharge, representatives of the staff shall confer with representatives of that program prior to the client's discharge to share information concerning the client.

2. The provider shall have a written policy concerning unplanned discharge. This policy shall ensure that emergency discharges initiated by the provider take place only when the health and safety of a client or other clients might be endangered by the client's further placement at the agency.

a. The provider shall give immediate notice of unplanned discharge to the legally responsible person and shall promptly notify appropriate education authorities.

b. When arranging for placement following an emergency discharge, a provider shall consult with the receiving provider to ensure that the client is placed in a program that reasonably meets the client's needs, if possible.

c. The provider shall have a written report detailing the circumstances leading to each unplanned discharge.

3. Within 30 days of discharge of a client, a provider shall compile a written discharge summary to be included in the client's record. When the client is discharged to another agency, this summary should accompany the client. This summary should include:

a. name and home address of the client and, when appropriate, the legally responsible person;

b. name, address, telephone number of the provider;

c. summary of services provided during care;

d. summary of growth and accomplishments during care;

e. assessed needs which remain to be met, and alternate service possibilities which might meet those needs; and

f. statement of an aftercare plan and identification of who is responsible for follow-up services and aftercare.

F. Individual Service Planning

1. A provider shall ensure that a direct service staff who is an appropriately qualified professional is assigned to each client and given responsibility for and authority over:

a. supervision of the implementation of the client's service plan;

b. integration of the various aspects of the client's program;

c. recording of the client's progress as measured by objective indicators;

d. reviewing the client's service plan on a quarterly basis; and

e. monitoring any extraordinary restriction of the client's freedom, including use of any form of restraint, any special restriction on a client's communication with others and any potentially harmful treatment or behavior management technique applied to the client.

2. Service Plan

a. A provider shall, within 30 days of admitting a client, ensure that a comprehensive written psychological, social and, as appropriate, educational assessment of the client has been completed and, on the basis of this assessment, shall develop a comprehensive, time-limited, goal-oriented individual service plan addressing the needs identified by the assessment.

b. Unless it is clearly not feasible to do so, a provider shall ensure that the service plan and any subsequent revisions are explained to the client and, where appropriate, the legally responsible person in language understandable to these persons.

c. The social service staff shall review each plan at least annually and shall evaluate the degree to which the goals have been achieved.

d. The social service worker shall prepare quarterly status reports on the progress of the client relative to the goals and objectives of the service plan. These reports shall be prepared by designated staff and reviewed and approved.

e. A social service worker shall ensure that all persons working directly with the client are appropriately informed of the service plan.

3. Education

a. A provider should ensure that each client has access to appropriate educational services consistent with the client's abilities and needs, taking into account his/her age and level of functioning.

b. All clients of school age must either be enrolled in a school system or a program approved by the Department of Education.

G. Arrangement of Clients into Groups. A provider should conscientiously consider the manner in which clients are arranged into groups within the provider, and document that this manner of arranging clients into groups effectively addresses the needs of clients. This statement should be in accordance with the following guidelines.

1. All clients must have privacy and a place to go for periods of relative quiet and inactivity.

2. All clients must have an opportunity to build relationships within small groups.

3. Clients must have an opportunity to form relationships with a consistent group of direct service staff.

H. Behavior Management

1. Clients should be given opportunities to learn gradually to assume responsibilities and make decisions for phases of daily living that they are able to carry out by themselves. They should have the assistance and guidance of workers whom they trust and respect, and with whom they have a positive relationship, while learning self-control and self-direction in a widening sphere of daily life.

a. Discipline is the educational process by which professionals help a client have the experiences that enable the client to learn to live in reasonable conformity with accepted standards of social behavior and to do so by progressively acquiring and applying self-control rather than relying on external pressures.

b. Every provider should develop policies and procedures to govern all disciplinary actions. Staff should be fully aware of these policies and their implications through staff development and written materials.

c. Each client should know the basic rules that include not hurting others, not destroying things and not disrupting ongoing activities.

d. Good discipline involves being clear and specific as to limits on behavior, showing the client what is permitted and what is not, and giving feedback on actions that are right or wrong.

e. Responsibility for discipline should be given to the worker who takes care of the clients and supervises their daily activities.

2. Punishment

a. Punishment should be used only in situations where other means are ineffective and when clients can benefit from the experience of facing the consequences of unacceptable behavior not as an end in itself, but as a part of a learning process.

b. Punishment is one form of intervention by the staff in situations in which the client fails to behave as expected or required, or fails to maintain self-control. The staff should have clear reasons for choosing punishment. It is usually more effective to offer an intervention activity that can be positively enforced rather than an intervention that could prove to be a negative reinforcement to a client.

c. Timing or any punishment should be related to the occurrence of the offense and should not extend over so long a period that it loses meaning for the client.

d. Group punishment for misbehavior of one or more members is not desirable. It can have the negative long-range effect of embittering the clients who are unfairly punished and may disturb group cohesiveness. The group may become hostile to the individual client who may feel alone and rejected by them. The group may also direct its hostility to the staff member. Humiliating or degrading punishment, which undermines the client's respect (including ridicule, sarcasm, shaming, scolding or punishment in the presence of the group or another staff member), should be avoided.

i. Corporal punishment, including slapping, spanking, paddling, belting, hitting or forcing the client to march, stand or kneel rigidly in one spot, or causing any kind of physical discomfort, shall not be used other than when approved by the client's parent or guardian in writing. All state laws must be followed when approved corporal punishment is administered.

ii. Physical restraint of a client by a worker is at times necessary for the protection of the client or others.

3. Misbehavior

a. To be effective, worker intervention should be determined by an understanding of the particular client, the immediate situation, the particular living group of the client, the client's capacity at the time to learn from the experience and the treatment plan.

b. Some situations require purposeful non-interference, i.e., nothing should be done. Others call for active intervention, such as reasoning and discussion of the incident, changing the situation, disapproval, physical restraint or punishment.

La. Admin. Code tit. 67, § V-6965

Promulgated by the Department of Social Services, Office of the Secretary, Bureau of Licensing, LR 27:1575 (September 2001), repromulgated by the Department of Social Services, Office of the Secretary, Bureau of Residential Licensing, LR 33:2750 (December 2007), repromulgated by the Department of Social Services, Office of Community Services, LR 35: 1628 (August 2009).

AUTHORITY NOTE: Promulgated in accordance with R.S. 36:477 and R.S. 46:1410 et seq.

This Section has been moved from LAC 67:I.1965.