| Advisory opinion request by Maggie McWilliams of the Health Standards Section (HSS) of the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals (DHH) regarding her post employment restrictions as a consultant. |
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Ms. McWilliams plans on starting her own consulting company when she retires as a program manager within the HSS of DHH. Her job responsibilities for HSS include processing patient care complaints regarding any hospital within the state. She also reviews the complaints for evidence of violations and may refer matters to investigation by surveyors within DHH. Further, she receives and process self-reports submitted by hospitals and refers to investigation matters which are not in compliance with state or federal regulations. HSS Administration and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services develop recommendations for actions regarding the violations. She is not involved with the review process and resultant actions.
Ms. McWilliams is a psychiatric nurse. She plans on consulting with primarily psychiatric facilities and units. She would like to assist in ensuring that personnel are properly trained to meet the psychological needs of compromised patients and their family members. Additionally, she would be prepared to provide guidance in areas such as nursing documentation, quality assurance procedures, conflict resolution, and other issues that potentially impact the ability to provide and ensure safe, high quality, patient care. She states she would refrain from representing herself or her employer in any contact with DHH-HSS relative to findings of non-compliance or other regulatory concerns.
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La. R.S. 42:1121B(1) provides that "no former employee shall, for two years following the termination of his public employment, assist another person for compensation, in a transaction, or in an appearance in connection with a transaction in which such former public employee participated at any time during his public employment and involving the governmental entity by which he was formerly employed, or for a period of two years following the termination of his public employment, render, any service which such former public employee had rendered to the agency during the term of his public employment on a contractual basis, regardless of the parties to the contract, to, for, or on behalf of the agency with which he was formerly employed."
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Adopt the proposed advisory opinion.
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| Assigned Attorney: |
Brett Robinson |
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