Maine Consent Decree Report, May 2006

This is the first of the reports of the Maine Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) under the June 30, 2005, consent decree plan. By this report, the department will:

• Report on implementation of specific action steps in the consent decree plan designed to complete development of a comprehensive community mental health system
   
• Present data that shows how the system is operating relative to the performance standards
   
• Report corrective actions that DHHS is taking in response to monitoring data on performance standards

Part I of the quarterly report addresses implementation of the specific action steps in the consent decree plan designed to complete development of the system. Progress on the action steps relating to system development at Riverview Psychiatric Center have been included as part of the reporting on Riverview performance measures in Part II.

Part II includes monitoring data showing how the system is operating in reference to the performance standards in the approved plan. The first section contains data relating to the community standards and the second section contains performance measures data for the Riverview Psychiatric Center along with the progress on action steps. Future reports will describe any action, for each set of standards, the department is undertaking (or plans to undertake) to address areas where data shows the system is performing below those standards.

Part III includes updates on the cost of plan implementation and any other issues that warrant reporting to the Court Master. Part IV is the Riverview Psychiatric Center performance improvement report for the third quarter of FY 2006.