230A.16 - ESTABLISHMENT OF STANDARDS.
230A.16 ESTABLISHMENT OF STANDARDS.
The administrator of the division of mental health and disability
services of the department of human services shall recommend and the
mental health, mental retardation, developmental disabilities, and
brain injury commission shall adopt standards for community mental
health centers and comprehensive community mental health programs,
with the overall objective of ensuring that each center and each
affiliate providing services under contract with a center furnishes
high quality mental health services within a framework of
accountability to the community it serves. The standards shall be in
substantial conformity with those of the psychiatric committee of the
joint commission on accreditation of health care organizations and
other recognized national standards for evaluation of psychiatric
facilities unless in the judgment of the administrator of the
division of mental health and disability services, with approval of
the mental health, mental retardation, developmental disabilities,
and brain injury commission, there are sound reasons for departing
from the standards. When recommending standards under this section,
the administrator of the division shall designate an advisory
committee representing boards of directors and professional staff of
community mental health centers to assist in the formulation or
revision of standards. At least a simple majority of the members of
the advisory committee shall be lay representatives of community
mental health center boards of directors. At least one member of the
advisory committee shall be a member of a county board of
supervisors. The standards recommended under this section shall
include requirements that each community mental health center
established or operating as authorized by section 230A.1 shall:
1. Maintain and make available to the public a written statement
of the services it offers to residents of the county or counties it
serves, and employ or contract for services with affiliates employing
specified minimum numbers of professional personnel possessing
specified appropriate credentials to assure that the services offered
are furnished in a manner consistent with currently accepted
professional standards in the field of mental health.
2. Unless it is governed by a board of trustees elected or
selected under sections 230A.5 and 230A.6, be governed by a board of
directors which adequately represents interested professions,
consumers of the center's services, socioeconomic, cultural, and age
groups, and various geographical areas in the county or counties
served by the center.
3. Arrange for the financial condition and transactions of the
community mental health center to be audited once each year by the
auditor of state. However, in lieu of an audit by state accountants,
the local governing body of a community mental health center
organized under this chapter may contract with or employ certified
public accountants to conduct the audit, pursuant to the applicable
terms and conditions prescribed by sections 11.6 and 11.19 and audit
format prescribed by the auditor of state. Copies of each audit
shall be furnished by the accountant to the administrator of the
division of mental health and disability services and the board of
supervisors supporting the audited community mental health center.
4. Adopt and implement procedural rules ensuring that no member
of the center's board of directors, or board of trustees receives
from the center information which identifies or is intended to permit
the members of the board to identify any person who is a client of
that center. Section History: Early Form
[C75, 77, 79, 81, S81, § 230A.16; 81 Acts, ch 78, § 20, 42] Section History: Recent Form
89 Acts, ch 264, §6; 94 Acts, ch 1170, §42, 43; 2004 Acts, ch
1090, §10; 2006 Acts, ch 1115, §28, 29
Referred to in § 225C.4, 225C.6, 230A.18