A. The department shall maintain a quality assurance office under the office of the secretary [secretary of the children youth and families department].

B. The purpose of the quality assurance office shall be to facilitate department efforts to efficiently implement the purposes of the Children's Code.

C. In order to measure the quality of services provided, to facilitate satisfactory outcomes for children and families that receive services and to provide a continuing opportunity to improve service delivery, the quality assurance office shall:

(1) monitor the system for receiving and resolving complaints and grievances;

(2) perform periodic investigations and evaluations to assure compliance with the Children's Code and other applicable state and federal laws and regulations;

(3) facilitate monitoring of indicators of the department's performance to determine whether the department is:

(a) providing children and families with individualized, needs-based service plans;

(b) providing services in a timely manner; and

(c) in compliance with applicable state and federal laws and regulations;

(4) identify any deficiencies and recommend corrective action to the secretary of the department;

(5) have access to any records maintained by the department, including confidential information; and

(6) promote continuous improvement of all department processes serving children and families.

D. The quality assurance office shall contribute to and facilitate the publication of public reports assessing the performance of the department. The reports shall not disclose the identity of any individual mentioned in the report, including children or families that receive or are eligible for services or any department employee.

History: 1978 Comp., § 32A-19-1, enacted by Laws 1993, ch. 77, § 228; 1997, ch. 34, § 15.

Bracketed material. — The bracketed material in Subsection A was inserted by the compiler since "secretary" is not a defined term in this article; the bracketed material is not a part of the law.

The 1997 amendment, effective July 1, 1997, deleted "By August 1, 1993" from the beginning of Subsection A; substituted "implement" for "achieve" in Subsection B; in Subsection C, substituted "monitor the system" for "establish an accessible system" in Paragraph (1), substituted "facilitate monitoring of" for "monitor" in Paragraph (3), and added Paragraph (6); substituted "contribute to and facilitate the publication of" for "annually produce" in the first sentence of Subsection D; and made minor stylistic changes throughout the section.