OKLAHOMA DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES
Sequoyah Memorial Office Building
2400 N. Lincoln Blvd.
P.O. Box 2535
2Oklahoma City, OK 73125-0352
(405) 521-3646 l www.OKDHS.org

June 19, 2006

DDSD #06-03

Dear Provider:

 During the past year, DDSD has been refining our incident reporting system in order to improve our ability to collect, track, and analyze incident trends and report this information regularly to the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). 

Our ultimate goal is to have an electronic reporting system that is web-based and capable of providing agencies a means to collect and analyze incident data specific to their agency.  At this point we plan to use the system developed by South Dakota’s Division of Developmental Disabilities. CMS paid for technical assistance provided by the Human Services Research Institute (HSRI) to help develop the system.  While recognizing that we will need to make some changes to the South Dakota system to meet our needs, we are hopeful that the electronic system will be operational by July 1.

Until the system is operational, we are using a new incident reporting form that mirrors the major categories contained in the electronic system. The new reporting form distinguishes between critical incidents (those that require immediate verbal reporting to the DDSD case manager or emergency on-call system, plus completion of the DDS-46) and non-critical incidents (those that require completion of the DDS-46).  Incidents now categorized as critical are:

 1) suspected abuse, neglect, or exploitation;
 2)  threat/attempted suicide;
 3)  death;
 4)  unplanned hospital admission;
 5)  medication event resulting in need for emergency medical treatment;
 6)  law enforcement involvement;
 7)  loss of property more than $500.00;
 8)  missing person;
 9)  unusual or significant incident that may attract media attention; and,

10)  use of highly restrictive procedure.

Another change is in the routing process.  We are asking that a copy of any Incident Report involving a critical incident be routed to DDSD State Office as well as to the case manager.  The routing information, including an e-mail address and fax number, is included on the DDS-46.  Until the electronic system is operational, DDSD will manually enter each critical incident into a database that will enable us to report to CMS on a quarterly basis.

 We appreciate your assistance in implementing the revised reporting procedures and apologize for the short notice.  If you have any questions about the revised procedures, please do not hesitate to contact Gwen McClain at Gwen.Mcclain@OKDHS.org or Susan Lash at Susan.Lash@OKDHS.org. 

Very truly yours,

James M. Nicholson, Director
Developmental Disabilities Services Division
Oklahoma Department of Human Services

Enclosure