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Maine oversight panel spotlights data gap on staff injuries at Riverview and Dorothea Dix
Summary
State oversight staff told the Legislature's Government Oversight Committee that injury counts for 2022 differ between a February HHS presentation and data OPAGA received; lawmakers requested a site visit and clarification of injury categories.
Sen. Craig Hickman, chair of the Legislature's Government Oversight Committee, on Thursday directed further attention to staff safety at Riverview and Dorothea Dix Psychiatric Centers after a discrepancy emerged between Human Services reporting and data provided to the Office of Program Evaluation and Government Accountability.
OPAGA Director Peter Schleck told the committee that the agency's data show a higher count of staff injuries for 2022 than the number reported to the Legislature's HHS committee earlier this year. "I'm not in a position to explain today, in the absence of further work, why that number is so different, but I want to give you the headline, which is the number is different," Schleck said.
The difference involves the overlapping year 2022: the HHS presentation to the HHS committee in February 2023 reported 27 staff injuries involving patients at the two facilities for that year, combining "staff injury due to patient behavior" and "staff injury during patient intervention." OPAGA's data, Schleck said, shows 60 such injuries for Riverview and Dorothea Dix in 2022; he emphasized OPAGA has not yet validated the data and offered options for follow-up.
The committee discussed next steps. Representative Straka said a site visit to Riverview would help members understand physical conditions that bear on staff safety: "In all the years that we've been talking about Riverview, I've never ever been there ... when they're talking about their physical safety in a building, I'd like to see the building and see how it is." Representative Chad Perkins asked for a clarification of terms: "What's the difference between an injury because of an intervention and an injury because of behavior?" a question OPAGA and department staff began to address at the meeting.
A department staff member responding to that question said the department distinguishes assaults by patients from injuries that occur during staff intervention: "The distinction is the patient behavior is an assault, essentially. So a kick, hit, punch, like ..." The explanation in the meeting framed "patient behavior" as assaults and "intervention" injuries as those incurred while staff were intervening with a patient.
OPAGA presented committee options including requesting additional OPAGA work to validate and reconcile reporting, inviting HHS and facility representatives for questioning, or writing to HHS for clarification. Schleck said OPAGA could refine a proposed scope of follow-up work and return it to the committee for approval.
No formal committee vote or directive was recorded in the transcript excerpt provided. Committee members expressed interest in on-site observation and clearer standardized reporting definitions before taking further action.
The discussion continues to be part of the Government Oversight Committee's ongoing review of staffing and safety at state psychiatric hospitals; OPAGA suggested further work to reconcile reporting differences and to recommend next steps to the committee.
