235B.16A Dependent adults — dependency assessments — interagency training.

1. The dependent adult protective advisory council established pursuant to section 235B.1 shall recommend a uniform assessment instrument and process for adoption and use by the department of human services and other agencies involved with assessing a dependent adult’s degree of dependency and determining whether dependent adult abuse has occurred. However, this section shall not apply to dependent adult abuse assessments and determinations made under chapter 235E.

2. The instrument and process design under subsection 1 shall address but is not limited to all of the following:

a. Evaluation of conformity with applicable federal law and regulations on the part of the persons employing, housing, or providing services to the dependent adult.

b. Provision for the final step in the dependency assessment of a dependent adult to be a formal assessment of the existence of risk to the health or safety of the individual or of the degree of the individual’s impairment in ability under the definition of dependent adult in section 235B.2.

c. If the assessment under paragraph “b” determines that a risk to the health or safety of the individual exists or the individual has a significant impairment in ability, and the individual being assessed agrees, provision for a case manager to be assigned to assist in preparing and implementing a safety plan which includes protective services for the individual.

d. If the assessment under paragraph “b” determines that a risk to the health or safety of the individual exists or the individual has a significant impairment in ability, the individual being assessed does not agree to the safety plan provisions under paragraph “c” or accept other services, and the options available under sections 235B.17, 235B.18, and 235B.19 are not utilized, provision for the department of human services to maintain periodic contact with the individual in accordance with rules adopted for this purpose. The purpose of the contact is to assess any increased risk or impairment and to monitor the individual’s goals, feelings, and concerns so that the department can intervene when necessary or offer services and other support to maintain or sustain the individual’s safety and independence when the individual is ready to agree to a safety plan or accept services.

3. The department of human services and other agencies involved with assessing a dependent adult’s degree of dependency and whether dependent adult abuse has occurred shall adopt rules and take other steps necessary to implement the uniform assessment instrument and process addressed by this section on or before July 1, 2010.

4. The department of human services shall cooperate with the department on aging, the departments of inspections and appeals, public health, public safety, and workforce development, the civil rights commission, and other state and local agencies performing inspections or otherwise visiting residential settings where dependent adults live, to regularly provide training to the appropriate staff in the agencies concerning each agency’s procedures involving dependent adults, and to build awareness concerning dependent adults and reporting of dependent adult abuse.

2009 Acts, ch 136, §9; 2013 Acts, ch 30, §47

Referred to in §235E.4