Incident Reporting Policy: Who Receives Incident Reports

A Incident Reporting Policy policy should be clear about who incidents are reported to. 

Incident reports should be reported to, and memorialized by, individuals with appropriate authority within the recovery home, this could include a Director, Executive Director, or member of the organization’s Board of Directors.

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These individuals should record…

• When they received the incident report,
• When they reviewed the report, as well as
• What additional follow up was implemented to address the situation or prevent future incidents.

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Using the previous example about the missing meds, does the staff person or all staff persons need a refresher on the medication policy?  Does the program need new medication lock boxes?  Or, does the resident have a need to discuss their medication with their health care provided?  Do they need updates to their recovery plan?

There is nothing an organization can do to prevent future incidents, but the organization does need to engage in the thought process and record attempts to prevent future incidents.

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And know that recovery housing programs are not required to report incidents to ORH, but they can, if they feel they want some guidance on how the incident may effect the safety and supportiveness of their recovery house community.