Client Rights Office - Duties

1. Grievances

1. STATE-OPERATED FACILITIES
The Client Rights Office (CRO) receives and processes requests for Stage 3 reviews of complaints when clients are dissatisfied with the results of the first two stages of the DHS grievance resolution process. CRO Client Right Specialists investigate those complaints to determine if there are rights violations. They do not conduct hearings with sworn testimony. Rather, they investigate the complaints by interviewing involved parties and reviewing written documents. They make administrative findings and refer to relevant patient rights laws and rules and any past decision precedents on the issues. Recommendations are made where appropriate. The precedents created by Stage 3 and Stage 4 decisions are set forth in three Grievance Decision Digests - one for the Centers for the Developmentally Disabled, one for the Mental Health Institutes, and one for the Chapter 980 patients. These digests are updated periodically and made available to both staff and patients in state-operated facilities.

2. DHS 94 GRIEVANCE PROCESS
The State Grievance Examiner (SGE) is also a member of the CRO staff. The SGE's duties include conducting Level III reviews of complaints filed under ss.51.61, Wis. Stats., and DHS 94 involving any service providers other than the DHS-operated facilities. The SGE has original jurisdiction to review any complaints about the community grievance procedure itself. The precedents created by the Level III and Level IV decisions in the HFS 94 grievance procedure are set forth in a Community Grievance Decision Digest, which is updated periodically and made available to everyone on this CRO Internet site.

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B. Advocacy - CRO staff also monitor changes in client rights laws and rules and, where appropriate, recommend changes for the benefit of individuals receiving services for mental illness, developmental disabilities or substance abuse.

C. Technical Assistance - CRO staff, including the SGE, provide consultation on many topics and questions concerning client rights. They also work on various short and long-term projects to advance the cause of client rights, including guardianship, protective placement issues and consents for psychotropic medications.

D. Training - CRO staff provide training on client rights issues for clients, state and community client rights specialists, community providers, facility staff, parent and guardian groups and others, upon request. Training topics include grievance resolution processes, informal conflict resolution processes, confidentiality, guardianship, informed consent, individualized decision-making, risk-management decision-making, risk-reduction and deterrence, rights limitations, documentation, medication issues, and other rights issues.

E. Quality Assurance - CRO staff also monitor all stages of the DHS grievance resolution process and provide feedback and follow-up on grievance decisions and recommendations at all levels of the process. The SGE also is responsible for ensuring all community service providers and counties have grievance procedures meeting the requirements of Subchapter III of DHS 94, Wisconsin Administrative Code.

Last Updated: June 18, 2009