66-118. POWERS AND DUTIES OF THE BOARD — HOSPITALS MANAGED BY — ANNUAL REPORT. The board shall have complete authority to manage and operate the state hospital north, at Orofino; the state hospital south, at Blackfoot; the southwest Idaho treatment center at Nampa; with authority to establish professional standards of qualifications for doctors, nurses, superintendents, general managers, farm managers, attendants, and all other personnel and may employ a general business manager for each of said hospitals, and hospital personnel at said hospitals and medical superintendents for each of said hospitals, at its discretion, or a superintendent, or director, or manager who may be over all hospitals. The board shall have complete authority to, or it is the duty of the board:

(1) To make rules for the government of said hospitals and to define the duties of all employees; provided, that the members of the board shall not be personally liable for any act of any employee done in violation of any law, or contrary to any rule of the board; nor shall any administrative employee of the board be responsible for the act of any other employee done in violation of any laws of the state, or rule of the board, or order of the administrative employee;

(2) To receive, take and hold property, both real and personal, in trust for the state and for the use and benefit of such hospitals;

(3) To visit each of said hospitals at such times as it deems necessary and to keep itself advised of all expenses and the condition of buildings and property, the safety and treatment of patients, and require the general manager or superintendent to make periodic reports as to the condition of each hospital and treatment of the patients;

(4) To require the keeping of a complete and accurate set of books of each hospital in accordance with the accounting required of other institutions of the state; to examine and audit the expenditures of each hospital and to certify the same to the state controller. The board shall require that all itemized bills, purchases and other expenditures made, must be examined and approved by the head of the hospital making such purchases or expenditures and then the same must be certified by the board, and transmitted to the state controller to be reviewed and allowed in the same manner as other accounts against the state are reviewed and allowed. When allowed the state controller must draw his warrant on the state treasurer for the amount so reviewed and allowed, and the state treasurer is hereby authorized and required to pay the same out of any money in the state treasury appropriated therefor;

(5) To make rules and fix the terms and conditions of payment of costs of care and treatment of mentally ill persons who are not indigent or who are not residents of the state, who are admitted to said state hospital north, state hospital south, or southwest Idaho treatment center, all receipts from such persons to be paid into the state treasury and credited to salaries and wages, other current expense, or capital outlay of the general fund of the remitting hospital, at the discretion of the board;

(6) To enter into reciprocal agreements with similar boards of other states for the transfer of residents of those states, who have been involuntarily hospitalized to any of the aforesaid hospitals in this state, or the transfer of Idaho residents, who have been involuntarily hospitalized to similar hospitals in those states, to the appropriate hospital in this state;

(7) To recognize that or to proceed on the fact that any order of involuntary hospitalization of an Idaho resident, by judicial action of another state, shall be sufficient for admitting such resident, without further judicial action in this state, to a similar hospital in this state;

(8) To remove patients in case of necessity, or when they feel it is for the betterment of the patient’s welfare, to an appropriate place at the discretion of the board, and to make necessary negotiations to carry out such a procedure;

(9) To purchase insurance for any of the medical staff in any of the hospitals against liability for alleged malpractice by reason of any act, or omission, while in the service of the state of Idaho;

(10) To remove and transfer from one (1) state hospital to another, or from a state hospital to a private hospital, or to a hospital of another state, or other government agency, any person confined therein, for the purpose of grouping together classes of mentally ill persons, or to give them better medical aid and care;

(11) To report to the governor each year, a statement of receipts and expenditures, the condition of each hospital, the number of patients under treatment at each hospital during the preceding year and such other matters as may be pertinent, and to make an annual report to the governor in substantially the same manner on or before December 1 prior to each regular session of the legislature;

(12) To delegate to the head of the hospital, or to a director or superintendent, or manager of all hospitals the powers and duties vested by law in the board, at its discretion;

(13) To initiate, create, or promote procedures, policies and practices either as a body or in cooperation with other governmental departments or agencies for the general welfare and betterment of the mental health of the people of the state of Idaho.

History:

[66-118, added 1951, ch. 273, sec. 7, p. 574; am. 1955, ch. 168, sec. 1, p. 338; am. 1976, ch. 9, sec. 8, p. 33; am. 1994, ch. 180, sec. 161, p. 525; am. 2003, ch. 32, sec. 34, p. 138.; am. 2011, ch. 102, sec. 7, p. 263.]