Section 4210.21. Patient services

(a) To ensure that persons thought to be in need of service has available to him the professional staff competent to assess and evaluate his need, to plan a comprehensive treatment program and to make available the necessary services on a continuing basis, the administrator shall arrange for the professional and nonprofessional staff necessary to carry out these responsibilities for catchment areas under his jurisdiction. The staff and their responsibilities shall hereinafter be referred to as the base service unit.

(b) It is the responsibility of the administrator through the base service unit to ensure continuity of care for patients, and to maintain a continuing relationship with the patient and with a facility or provider of service responsible for service to the patient at any stage of his illness from intake to closure. The base service unit shall facilitate and coordinate the patient’s movement from service to service. Facilities and providers of service participating in the county program shall have the obligation to take whatever action is necessary to ensure that continuity of care is both possible and maintained.

Notation

Notes of Decisions

Liability

While a base service unit can be liable for damages resulting from its gross negligence, plaintiffs failed to assert any facts from which such a finding could be made, and the trial court properly sustained the preliminary objection of the base service unit. F.T.P. v. Ferrara, 804 A.2d 1221 (Pa. Super. 2002); appeal denied 847 A.2d 1286 (Pa. 2004).