N.M. Code R. § 9.2.19.38 - PROCEDURE FOR RELEASE
A. Records maintained
by the program may not be released, disclosed, duplicated, or removed to anyone
who is not an ombudsman without the written permission of the state ombudsman.
All requests made for ombudsman records shall be referred to the state
ombudsman or designee.
B. The state
ombudsman or designee shall determine whether to disclose all or part of the
records as follows:
(1) The state ombudsman
shall require that the request be made in writing and may require a copy of the
request before determining the appropriate response. Where the request is made
orally by a resident, complainant, or surrogate decision maker of the resident
or complainant, the request must be documented immediately and filed as an
ombudsman record by the ombudsman to whom informed consent was communicated in
order to meet this requirement.
(2)
The state ombudsman shall review the request to determine whether the release
of all or part of the records would be consistent with the wishes or interest
of the relevant resident(s).
(3)
The state ombudsman shall notify the department's cabinet secretary and the
state ombudsman's immediate supervisor (if the immediate supervisor is someone
other than the cabinet secretary) of any public media request for records
within 24 hours of the request.
(4)
The state ombudsman or designee shall refer any request made by formal legal
process to the program's legal counsel. The state ombudsman shall be
responsible to ensure that a response is timely filed and endeavor to prevent
any release that would be inconsistent with the interests of the
resident(s).
(5) Any request for
information made under the state Inspection of Public Records Act (IPRA)
directly to the program shall be forwarded to the department's records
custodian within 24 hours. The department's records custodian shall respond in
writing within 15 days to the requestor after consulting with the state
ombudsman and the department's general counsel or designee. The ombudsman shall
make the final decision whether to disclose records in response to an IPRA
request, keeping in mind that program records are not public records and are
therefore exempt from IPRA. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the state ombudsman
may release records provided they do not name or provide personally identifying
information of residents or complainants as it deems appropriate, provided such
disclosure is not made pursuant to an IPRA request.
Notes
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