6004 Record Sharing with A/N/E MDT | APS-5500-MANUAL

Georgia Division of Aging Services
Adult Protective Services Manual

Chapter:

6000 Multidisciplinary Team

Effective Date:

Section Title:

Record Sharing with A/N/E MDT

Reviewed or Updated in:

MT 2019-04

Section Number:

6004

Previous Update:

Summary Statement

Upon request Adult Protective Services (APS) will provide reasonable access to the Adult Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation Multidisciplinary Team (A/N/E MDT) of records related to abuse, neglect and exploitation held by the Department.

Basic Considerations

APS representatives shall inform A/N/E MDT member that it may take up to one week after a request for records has been made to produce the full case records. Requests need to be made via email and directed to the APS representative to the A/N/E MDT.

It may take longer than one week to fulfill requests made by the A/N/E MDT coordinator for all cases over a specified time period. Large records request will take time to process.

Procedures

APS shall gather, review, redact and submit APS records to the A/N/E MDT.

Compiling the APS Record

The APS record includes when applicable:

the intake report, with reporter information redacted;
the redacted acknowledgement letter;
the threats to worker safety report;
the investigation chronological notes report;
the photographs and documents attached to case notes;
the assessments associated with the investigation;
the investigation summary reports;
the redacted Disabled Adult Abuse Report;
the on-going case notes;
any case related communication via email and/or text.

The above information shall be collected on any and all reports and investigations associated with the vulnerable adult(s) in question.

Redacted Information

Information related the reporter and irrelevant Protected Health Information (PHI) shall be redacted from the information prior to submitting the record to the A/N/E MDT.

Reporter

Redacted reporter information includes:

report’s name if included in the incident description;
any pronouns or verbiage included in the incident description signifying the identity of the reporter;
information in the allegation report indicating the identity of the reporter;
identification of participant record type;
information contained in the chronological investigation notes report such as;
- note type;
- note subtype;
- participant;
- note description; and
- any information in the body of the note that may indicate the identity of the reporter.
information contained the A/N/E Risk Assessment indicating source of information related to indicator and risk factors for abuse.

Notification of Release of PHI

APS shall redact irrelevant PHI in accordance with guidance given under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).

Irrelevant PHI is any medical information not caused by or related to the:

abuse;
sexual abuse;
severe neglect; or
decision making capacity of the vulnerable adult.

If PHI is released as a part of the shared record provided to the A/N/E MDT, notification must be made to the subject of the report via written or telephone notification, unless it is determined that providing notice would put the subject of the APS investigation in harm’s way. This determination must be made on a case-by-case basis and must be documented in the case record.

For example, a determination that the notice could put the victim in danger could be, but is not limited to the following:

Where the alleged abuser:
- lives with the client;
- reads client’s mail; or
- controls access to the telephone
Where the client has a history of misunderstanding or reacting poorly to receiving news; or
Where the alleged victim is likely to relocate or disappear upon receiving such news.