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An Act To Allow the Maine Developmental Services Oversight and Advisory Board Access to Investigations of Suspicious Deaths and Mortality Reviews Performed by the Department of Health and Human Services
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1. 34-B MRSA §1223, sub-§10, as amended by PL 2013, c. 310, §1, is further amended to read:
 
10. Access to information.   The board is entitled to access to information from the department necessary to carry out its functions. Except as provided in paragraphs D and Eto H, information provided pursuant to this subsection may not contain personally identifying information about a person with intellectual disabilities or autism.
 
A. The department shall provide the board, on a schedule to be agreed upon between the board and the department, reports on case management, reportable events, adult protective and rights investigations, unmet needs, crisis services, quality assurance, quality improvement, budgets and other reports that contain data about or report on the delivery of services to or for the benefit of persons with intellectual disabilities or autism, including reports developed by or on behalf of the department and reports prepared by others about the department.
 
B. The department, when requested by the board or pursuant to a written agreement with the board, shall release to the board information pertaining to alleged abuse, exploitation or neglect or an alleged dehumanizing practice or violation of rights of a person with intellectual disabilities or autism.
 
D. The board may examine confidential information in individual records with written permission of the person or that person's guardian. If the person or that person's guardian provides the board with written permission to examine confidential information, the board must maintain the confidentiality of the information as required by section 1207.
 
E. TheA member of the board or the board's staff may receive and examine confidential information when otherwise authorized to do so by law, including but not limited to when serving on a committee established by the department for which access to such information is necessary to perform the function of the committee.
 
F.  A member of the board or the board's staff may directly access, with or without the permission of the person or that person's guardian, a record that is maintained pursuant to section 5470-B, subsection 7 or section 5605, subsection 15 as long as the member of the board or the board's staff does not further disseminate personally identifying information in the record without first obtaining written permission pursuant to paragraph D. The department shall provide training that is adequate to enable a member of the board or the board's staff to access such a record.
 
G.  The department shall notify the board of any report to the medical examiner pursuant to Title 22, section 3478 made by the department or of which the department is aware that pertains to an adult receiving adult developmental services.
 
H.  A member of the board or the board's staff may directly access the records of an investigation into a suspicious death or of a mortality review conducted by the department or by a medical examiner pertaining to a deceased person who was receiving adult developmental services as long as the member of the board or the board's staff who has access to such information does not further disseminate personally identifying information from the investigation or mortality review without first obtaining the written permission of the deceased person's guardian, if there is one, or from the personal representative of the deceased person's estate.
 
SUMMARY
This bill grants the Maine Developmental Services Oversight and Advisory Board direct access to the personal planning and other records of a person receiving adult developmental services, subject to appropriate safeguards to protect the person's right to confidentiality, and grants the board direct access to the records of an investigation into the suspicious death of or the records of a mortality review pertaining to a person with intellectual disabilities or autism, subject to appropriate safeguards for the privacy of the deceased person. It also requires the Department of Health and Human Services to notify the board of any report made to a medical examiner regarding a mandated reporter's knowledge or reasonable suspicion that an adult receiving adult developmental services has died as a result of abuse or neglect.