Reporting of Allegations of Patient Neglect or Physical or Sexual Abuse or Assault

- Any employee or member of the medical staff who witnesses or receives an allegation of sexual or, physical abuse, neglect or assault of any patient or individual are required to ensure the safety of that individual and immediately contact the Facility Administrator on Call (AOC).
- The Facility AOC must immediately (within 24 hours) contact the Facility’s Operations Counsel.
- If the Facility’s Operations Counsel is unavailable, the Facility AOC shall immediately (within 24 hours) report the event to the local police department and/or appropriate authorities (i.e. child services, adult social services, etc.).
- Operations Counsel may be contacted directly or by utilizing the Abuse Hotline after hours and on weekends.

- Operations Counsel will direct all actions in response to the event.
- Operations Counsel will advise on reporting to authorities as appropriate or required by law. 
- Operations Counsel will advise whether circumstances require removal of personnel who are alleged to have engaged in abusive behavior.

- The allegations are immediately (within 24 hours) escalated to Leadership such as the Compliance Officer, Risk Manager, Human Resources Leader, Communications Officer and other applicable Leadership Team Members.

- The Tenet Facility must create an event report and complete the corporate notification process as required in Tenet Policy.
- The event report will also be provided to the Facility’s Compliance Officer.

- All internal reviews will be directed by Operations Counsel and, if appropriate, Employment Counsel.
- Interviews are conducted to complete a root cause analysis as required by the Sentinel Event Response and Reporting Policy.
- Historical event reports may be reviewed to determine if there are previous allegations against the same individual.