The administrator of the division of mental health and developmental disabilities of the department of human services shall recommend and the mental health and developmental disabilities commission shall adopt standards for community mental health centers and comprehensive community mental health programs, with the overall objective of ensuring that each center and each affiliate providing services under contract with a center furnishes high quality mental health services within a framework of accountability to the community it serves. The standards shall be in substantial conformity with those of the psychiatric committee of the joint commission on accreditation of health care organizations and other recognized national standards for evaluation of psychiatric facilities unless in the judgment of the administrator of the division of mental health and developmental disabilities, with approval of the mental health and developmental disabilities commission, there are sound reasons for departing from the standards. When recommending standards under this section, the administrator of the division shall designate an advisory committee representing boards of directors and professional staff of community mental health centers to assist in the formulation or revision of standards. At least a simple majority of the members of the advisory committee shall be lay representatives of community mental health center boards of directors. At least one member of the advisory committee shall be a member of a county board of supervisors. The standards recommended under this section shall include requirements that each community mental health center established or operating as authorized by section 230A.1 shall:
1. Maintain and make available to the public a written statement of the services it offers to residents of the county or counties it serves, and employ or contract for services with affiliates employing specified minimum numbers of professional personnel possessing specified appropriate credentials to assure that the services offered are furnished in a manner consistent with currently accepted professional standards in the field of mental health.
2. Unless it is governed by a board of trustees elected or selected under sections 230A.5 and 230A.6, be governed by a board of directors which adequately represents interested professions, consumers of the center's services, socioeconomic, cultural, and age groups, and various geographical areas in the county or counties served by the center.
3. Arrange for the financial condition and transactions of the community mental health center to be audited once each year by the auditor of state. However, in lieu of an audit by state accountants, the local governing body of a community mental health center organized under this chapter may contract with or employ certified public accountants to conduct the audit, pursuant to the applicable terms and conditions prescribed by sections 11.6 and 11.19 and audit format prescribed by the auditor of state. Copies of each audit shall be furnished by the accountant to the administrator of the division of mental health and developmental disabilities, and the board of supervisors supporting the audited community mental health center.
4. Adopt and implement procedural rules ensuring that no member of the center's board of directors, or board of trustees receives from the center information which identifies or is intended to permit the members of the board to identify any person who is a client of that center.
[C75, 77, 79, 81, S81, § 230A.16; 81 Acts, ch 78, § 20, 42]
89 Acts, ch 264, §6; 94 Acts, ch 1170, §42, 43
Referred to in § 225C.4, 225C.6, 230A.18
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