Definitions
New Mexico Administrative Code provides definitions for reportable “incidents” for Outpatient Facilities, Adult Day Care Facilities, and Intermediate Care Facilities for the Mentally Retarded (ICF/MR), but the definitions are slightly different for each medical entitiy. Six (6) different occurrences are included in the definitions for these three types of facilities that have mandatory reporting:
- • All three types of medical entities require “Incident” reports for:
- 1. environmental disasters (fire, flood, etc.),
- 2. contagious/notifiable disease outbreak, and
- 3. abuse (as defined by the “Resident Abuse and Neglect Act” NMSA 1978), (plus Adult Day care Facilities specifically includes sexual abuse).
- • Adult Day Care Facilities is alone in reporting
- 4. lost or missing participants as reportable “incidents.”
- • Adult Day Care Facilities require reporting of occurences that may / may not reflect medical error:
- 5. “accidents or injuries requiring medical care,”
- • Lastly, Outpatient Facilities and ICF/MRs are required to report:
- 6. “any serious human errors by staff members of the facility which has resulted in the death, serious illness, or physical impairment of a patient.” These errors are not further interpreted by the Department of Health.