New Mexico Administrative Code
Title 8 - SOCIAL SERVICES
Chapter 11 - ADULT PROTECTIVE SERVICES
Part 3 - ADULT PROTECTIVE SERVICES INVESTIGATIONS
Section 8.11.3.7 - DEFINITIONS

A. "Ability to consent" means an adult's ability to understand and appreciate the nature and consequences of proposed protective services or protective placement, including benefits, risks and alternatives to the proposed services or placement and to make or communicate an informed decision.

B. "Abuse" means:

C. "Administrative review" means a review of the department's records of a substantiated case for abuse, neglect or exploitation by the division director or the director's designee to determine if the notification process was performed and if the standard of preponderance of evidence was met in substantiating the allegation(s). An administrative review is not an administrative hearing before a hearing officer.

D. "Adult protective services (APS) attorney" is the attorney that represents the department in actions pursuant to the Adult Protective Services Act and federal and state constitutional, statutory and case law.

E. "Aggrieved person" means a person against whom a substantiation of abuse, neglect or exploitation has been substantiated. This does not include self neglect.

F. "Appropriate referral" is a report of adult abuse, neglect or exploitation received by the department which falls within the department's mandate to investigate.

G. "Assessment" means a process of completing structured and non-structured interviews to acquire an understanding of an adult's situation to determine if immediate protection or placement may be required.

H. "Care facility" means a hospital; skilled nursing facility; intermediate care facility; care facility for the mentally retarded; psychiatric facility; rehabilitation facility; kidney disease treatment center; home health agency; ambulatory surgical or outpatient facility; home for the aged or disabled; group home; adult foster care home; private residence that provides personal care; sheltered care or nursing care for one or more persons; adult day care center; boarding home; adult residential shelter care home; and any other health or resident care related facility or home but does not include a care facility located at or performing services for any correctional facility.

I. "Caretaker" means a facility, provider or individual that has assumed the responsibility for the care of an adult.

J. "Case disposition" means, upon completion of an investigation, whether to provide protective services for the purpose of alleviating or preventing further adult abuse, neglect or exploitation and ongoing risk to the incapacitated adult.

K. "Decisional capacity" means an adult's ability to understand and appreciate the nature and consequences of proposed protective services or protective placement, including benefits, risks and alternatives to the proposed services or placement and to make or communicate an informed decision.

L. "Department" is the aging and long-term services department.

M. "Emergency" means an adult is living in conditions that present a substantial risk of death or immediate and serious physical harm to the adult or others.

N. "Exploitation" means an unjust or improper use of an adult's resources for another's profit or advantage, pecuniary or otherwise.

O. "Incapacitated adult" means any adult with a mental, physical or developmental condition that substantially impairs the adult's ability to provide adequately for the adult's own care or protection.

P. "Investigation" means a systematic fact finding process, initiated within a prescribe time frame, with the goal of gathering all information relevant to the making of a determination as to whether the alleged maltreatment occurred and assess whether the incapacitated adult remains at risk, has decisional capacity and if protective services are necessary to remediate risk.

Q. "Investigation determination" means whether adult abuse, neglect or exploitation is substantiated or unsubstantiated.

R. "Neglect" means the failure of the caretaker of an adult to provide for the basic needs of the adult such as clothing, food, shelter, supervision and care for the physical and mental health for that adult. Neglect includes self neglect.

S. "Orientation" means the degree to which a person is cognizant of the:

T. "Preponderance of evidence" means the general standard of proof in civil cases. To support the finding, 51 percent or more of the relevant collected evidence must support that finding, determining it to be more likely than not.

U. "Protected adult" means an adult for whom a guardian or conservator has been appointed or other protective order has been made or an abused, neglected or exploited adult who has consented to protective services or protective placement.

V. "Reporting person" means a person who makes a referral to adult protective services staff about a situation of alleged abuse, neglect or exploitation of an elderly person or an adult with a disability.

W. "Self neglect" means an act or omission by an incapacitated adult that results in the deprivation of essential services or supports necessary to maintain the incapacitated adult's minimal mental, emotional or physical health and safety.

X. "Severity standard" means the determination of the severity of the substantiated complaint of abuse, neglect or exploitation for non-licensed health professionals based on the application of the severity standards in section 8.11.6 NMAC, Adult Protective Services Employee Abuse Registry.

Y. "Staffing" means conferences to internally review investigation progress and timelines, service needs and plans for the completion of the investigation.

Z. "Substantiation" means a determination, based upon a preponderance of collected and assessed credible information, that the abuse, neglect or exploitation of an incapacitated adult has occurred.

AA. "Substantiated registry referral" means a substantiated complaint that satisfies the severity standard for referral of the employee to the registry.

BB. "Unlicensed facility" means a facility, such as an assisted living home, which operates without a license from the department of health.

CC. "Unsubstantiated" means that the information collected during the investigation does not support a finding that the vulnerable adult was abused, neglected or exploited.