A. The Commission for Human Services shall promulgate rules regarding:

1. The powers and official duties of the State Long-Term Care Ombudsman consistent with applicable federal law and rules or as provided by the Long-Term Care Ombudsman Act;

2. Minimum qualifications for persons to serve as representatives of the Office of the State Long-Term Care Ombudsman;

3. Initial and continuing training requirements for ombudsman staff and volunteers which shall provide for a minimum of eighteen (18) hours of continuing education relevant to the care of the aging and disabled;

4. The minimum number of visits that must be made by an ombudsman to the assigned facilities;

5. The proper documentation and reporting of visits made to facilities by the ombudsman;

6. Procedures to ensure that officers, employees or other representatives of the Office are not subject to a conflict of interest which would impair their ability to carry out their official duties in an impartial manner; and

7. The disclosure by the State Long-Term Care Ombudsman or area or local Ombudsman entities of files maintained by the State Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program. Such rules shall:

a.provide that such files and records may be disclosed only at the discretion of the State Long-Term Care Ombudsman or the person designated by the State Long-Term Care Ombudsman to disclose the files and records, and

b.prohibit the disclosure of the identity of any complainant or resident with respect to whom the Office maintains such files or records unless:

(1)the complainant or resident, or the legal representative of the complainant or resident, consents to the disclosure and the consent is given in writing,

(2)(a)the complainant or resident gives consent orally, and

(b)the consent is documented contemporaneously in a writing made by a State Long-Term Care Ombudsman representative of the Office in accordance with such rules as the Commission shall promulgate, or

(3)the disclosure is required by court order.

B. The Oklahoma State Council on Aging, established by the Commission for Human Services to review, monitor and evaluate programs targeted to older persons, shall serve in an advisory capacity to the State Long-Term Care Ombudsman through establishment of a committee with equal provider and consumer representation.

Added by Laws 1989, c. 326, § 6, emerg. eff. May 26, 1989. Amended by Laws 1996, c. 336, § 12, emerg. eff. June 12, 1996; Laws 2005, c. 465, § 8, emerg. eff. June 9, 2005.