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7 AAC 50.810. Qualifications of medical, clinical, and other staff. (a) A residential psychiatric treatment center shall appoint a physician as medical director of the facility. The medical director must be

(1) a psychiatrist with experience in psychiatric treatment of children; or

(2) a physician with training and experience in treatment of children with mental health problems. (b) A residential psychiatric treatment center shall appoint a director of clinical services. The clinical director shall work full-time, shall be present at the facility at least 35 hours per week, and shall provide direct clinical services to residents or directly supervise clinical services provided by other facility staff. The clinical director must be a licensed professional mental health clinician, and must have either a certification in the treatment of children or at least five years of experience providing treatment services to severely emotionally disturbed children, at least two years of which must have been in a residential setting. However, the clinical director of a facility that serves no more than 10 residents may work part-time. (c) The clinical director and the medical director may be the same person if the person is a psychiatrist qualified under (a)(1) of this section. The clinical director or medical director may not serve as the administrator of the facility, unless the facility serves 10 or fewer residents. (d) The facility shall hire or contract with sufficient clinical staff who meet the requirements of (e) of this section so that each resident in treatment in the facility, or in post-discharge treatment, receives at least one hour of direct, individual clinical treatment each week, clinical review of the resident’s progress file each week, and all other clinical treatment services as specified in the resident’s plan of treatment. (e) A staff person or contractor of the facility who is responsible for providing the minimum clinical services described in (d) of this section, or who is responsible for evaluating children for potential admission based on data collected in the assessment required by 7 AAC 50.825(b), for developing that assessment on each potential resident, or for developing a preliminary treatment plan for each child must be a professional mental health clinician. (f) The facility shall hire or contract with sufficient appropriately qualified professional staff available on a full-time, part-time, or continuing consultative basis to assess and address the mental health, medical, social, family, and educational needs of children in treatment. (Eff. 6/21/2001, Register 158) Statutory Authority: