Ombudsman for mental health

The state’s Office of the Ombudsman for Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities would be permitted to retain paper copies of records, under a bill approved March 12 by the House Health and Human Services Committee.

HF3576, sponsored by Rep. Shelley Madore (DFL-Apple Valley), would allow the office’s information gathering to include paper, as well as electronic forms. Also under the bill, clients would further be defined as “a now deceased person who had been served by an agency, facility, or program.”

The bill now goes to the House floor.

For 20 years, the office has monitored state government health systems and investigated complaints by the public, said Roberta Opheim, state ombudsman for mental health and mental retardation. Concerns were recently raised by the Human Services Department that office staff could possibly lose private patient’s records when driving to and from various locations across the state. Opheim said when reviewing and investigating complaints, many times health records are not available in electronic format and paper copies are needed.

The department would like the office to have files sent electronically from locations, so information isn’t moving from facilities into an individual’s car, Anne Barry, chief compliance officer with the department, said in a previous committee. “We know that if there are going to be breaches of information it’s generally because somebody made a copy.”

Opheim said the office has never had an incident of losing or misplacing personal files and needs the copies to examine details in files. Both offices have been working together to come up with an electronic solution, but have yet to reach consensus, she said.

A companion bill, SF3225, sponsored by Sen. Don Betzold (DFL-Fridley), awaits action by the Senate Judiciary Committee.