| Advisory opinion request by Jacqueline Whitmore, a social worker with the Office of Behavioral Health (OBH) Preadmission Screening and Resident Review (PASRR) Program, regarding whether a conflict of interest would exist if she were employed by Band of Angels, a private business assisting nursing home residents and their families. |
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OBH receives referrals for nursing home placement from the Office of Aging. They receive the initial information and review other records to see if an individual has ever been treated for a mental illness. The individual must have received some psychiatric treatment within the last two years and it must affect specific areas such as interpersonal functioning, concentration, persistence and pace, etc. OBH can authorize permanent placement or temporary placement with a review in three to six months. OBH also reviews cases for individuals who are already in a nursing home who either has had a change in their mental or physical health or they were only approved for a short period of time.
In Ms. Whitmore's position with OBH, she reviews the evaluation of the managed care company, records from the Office of Aging and any hospital or nursing home records that are received to make a clinical decision about whether a person needs nursing home placement and the length of the placement.
Her job responsibilities with the Band of Angels would be to make sure the needs of a nursing home resident are being met. This would include visits to the facility, shopping for the resident, and acting as a liaison between the family and nursing home. She stated that she would not provide services to individuals and their families who were placed in a nursing home by OBH.
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La. R.S. 42:1111C(1)(a) provides that no public servant shall receive any thing of economic value for any service for which the subject matter is devoted substantially to the responsibilities, programs, or operations of the agency of the public servant and in which the public servant has participated.
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| Assigned Attorney: |
Brett Robinson |
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