'Landmark' Ruling on State Hospital

Jackson Hole Star-Tribune (Casper, WY): Advocates for the mentally ill and developmentally disabled said Tuesday that a federal judge's order clarifying procedures for investigating alleged abuse is a landmark decision that will help patients nationwide. The order and an accompanying settlement agreement will allow Wyoming Protection and Advocacy System Inc. unaccompanied, reasonable access to the Wyoming State Hospital and Wyoming State Training School when the group believes abuse or neglect has occurred or may occur. The judge ruled that patient privacy laws such as HIPAA and the Medicaid Act do not bar the State Hospital in Evanston or the State Training School in Lander from disclosing health information to Protection and Advocacy, a federally funded nonprofit group authorized by Congress to monitor treatment of mental health patients in all 50 states. Under the agreement, Protection and Advocacy must be allowed unaccompanied access to the State Hospital and State Training School and need not provide advance notice when it has probable cause to believe that abuse or neglect has occurred or might occur.