Critical Incident Reporting for OCDD

Critical incidents for OCDD Home- and Community-Based Services (HCBS) waiver participants are defined in OCDD Operational Instruction #F-5: Critical Incident Reporting, Tracking and Follow-Up Activities for Waiver Services.

OCDD waivers include:

  • New Opportunities Waiver (NOW)
  • Residential Opportunities Waiver (ROW)
  • Supports Waiver (SW)
  • Children's Choice Waiver (CCW)

OCDD is responsible for monitoring all critical incidents to ensure appropriate follow-up occurs and steps are taken to help prevent similar incidents in the future.

Critical incident reporting requirements apply to:

  • Participants of all OCDD waiver services and/or their family members
  • Licensed Direct Service Provider Agencies (licensed by LDH Health Standards Section)
  • Approved Support Coordination Agencies
  • Local Governing Entities (LGEs)

These entities must follow OCDD’s guidelines for identifying, documenting, and responding to critical incidents involving participants receiving OCDD HCBS waiver services.

Critical incident categories for OCDD are:

  • Abuse (Child, Adult, Elderly)
  • Neglect (Child, Adult, Elderly)
  • Exploitation
  • Extortion
  • Death
  • Fall
  • Major Illness
  • Major Injury
  • Involvement with Law Enforcement
  • Loss or Destruction of Home
  • Major Behavioral Incident
  • Major Medication Incident
  • Restraint Use (Personal, Mechanical, Chemical)

NOTE: Any incident/action that results in a visit to an acute care facility, emergency room, or urgent care center qualifies as a critical incident and should be reported. Visits to an acute care facility, emergency room, or urgent care center are not separate categories of incidents, but are covered in the incident categories previously mentioned.

If you are not reporting to OCDD, select the appropriate agency below to access their informational page for reporting critical incidents.

Statewide Incident Management System (SIMS)

The Statewide Incident Management System (SIMS) is the online application used for reporting, tracking, and following up on critical incidents involving OCDD HCBS waiver participants. SIMS provides authorized entities with a secure, web-based platform for submitting critical incidents, as defined in OCDD Operational Instruction #F-5: Critical Incident Reporting, Tracking, and Follow-Up Activities for Waiver Services.

Effective July 8, 2019, SIMS became the official system for critical incident reporting for OCDD.

The following service providers will not enter critical incidents into SIMS:

  • Licensed respite providers
  • Day habilitation centers and vocational programs
  • Self-Direction participants, their authorized representatives, or care workers

These entities will continue to send a hard copy Critical Incident Report Form to the SC for the involved waiver participant, for the SC to enter into SIMS.

Applying for a SIMS Account

For detailed instructions for applying for a SIMS account and the link to apply see below:

Security and Password Assignment

Security built into SIMS allows access to only those authorized to access the system. Each person who enters incidents into SIMS must have a unique username and password (credentials). It is a violation of HIPAA policy to log in to SIMS using another person's credentials. Only one password will be issued for each credentialed SIMS user. It is the responsibility of each licensed agency to immediately notify SIMSWaiver@la.gov of all separated employees who were credentialed in SIMS.

Do not attempt to change or reset your own password. If you are locked out of your active account in SIMS or need a password reset, please complete the SIMS Request Form For other support questions regarding your SIMS account, Email SIMSWaiver@la.gov.

SIMS User Resources

Policies:

Training Materials:

Cheat Sheets:

Forms:

  • OCDD Critical Incident Report Form 
    • To be used to document a critical incident in the field. DSPA employees: send to agency home office. Self-direction DSPs send to SC.)

Reporting Abuse, Neglect, and Exploitation

Abuse (physical, sexual, or psychological), financial exploitation, neglect, abandonment, or human trafficking of an OCDD HCBS waiver participant must be reported as follows:

 

 

To file a complaint, concern, or dissatisfaction involving services administered by OCDD or its contracted entities, contact your local governing entity or call 225-342-0095. You can view OCDD's Complaint Policy here. 

Surgeon General Ralph L. Abraham, M.D.

Interim Secretary Drew Maranto

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