State probes mental health facility's trashed paperwork

Rolling Hills Hospital, a mental health facility in Franklin, has reported that paperwork from an outpatient program was found in an off-site community dumpster, sparking a state investigation.

An employee is on administrative leave after dumping a box of patient education material, blank paperwork and partially filled out forms into a public recycling dumpster about a mile and a half away, said Richard Clark, CEO of Rolling Hills, which is owned by Universal Health Services.

Five items were copies of administrative forms that are released to patients. Laurel Roberts, chief nursing officer, said the facility is still determining whether patient notification will be required because of those forms.

The Office of Licensure within the Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services said it has opened an investigation.

Roberts said the state department is reviewing the five documents that contained patient information.

"We have very strict procedures about the retention of medical records (and) keeping them secure," Clark said, adding that an employee made a poor judgment call, "without malice."

Clark and Roberts emphasized that Rolling Hills is taking the matter seriously and reviewing the facility's processes for record-keeping. The hospital uses paper records and does not have an electronic system.

Rolling Hills is an acute psychiatric and chemical dependency facility that offers inpatient and outpatient services for adolescents and adults. Rolling Hills is an 85-bed, 65,000-square-foot freestanding behavioral health facility that opened in January 2009. It received approval a year ago for a $9.7 million expansion to add 30,000 square feet, with 40 adult psychiatric beds.

State mental health officials said that Rolling Hills notified the department on Wednesday that the papers were from its Intensive Outpatient Center.

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That center provides group therapy, individual counseling and other programs such as Alcoholics Anonymous, according to its website. Hospital officials declined to answer questions about services.

Mike Machak, spokesman for Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, wrote in a statement that the department is looking at the Rolling Hills documents. If the documents are found to include patient medical information, then Rolling Hills will have to notify each patient that was impacted.

Machak declined further comment because the investigation is ongoing.

The documents were first spotted by a member of the public in a large, open dumpster in the parking lot of a strip mall on Murfreesboro Road.

Franklin police were called to investigate, but later — with the help of the district attorney's office — determined that there was no evidence of criminal activity.

"There is no police investigation and our department considers the matter closed," Franklin Police Department spokesman Sgt. Charles Warner wrote in an email.

UHS, a hospital operator based in King of Prussia, Pa., acquired Rolling Hills in 2010 when it expanded into behavioral health with the acquisition of Franklin-based Psychiatric Solutions for $3.1 billion.

On Thursday morning, a few staff members in colorful scrubs darted to their cars through the mist in a mostly full parking lot, set among grassy stretches dotted by picnic benches and a couple small ponds. A few geese pecked at the ground outside.

In the facility's clean, modern lobby, a receptionist sat behind a large, curved desk. On one of the walls, a large sign read, "We take care of our patients. We take care of ourselves. We take care of each other."

Later in the day at the dumpster where the documents were found, Franklin resident Bob Dennison trashed some old papers.

He said that his wife is a relatively new patient at the facility — she'd only visited about three times — and that the couple had no complaints.

"Everybody's been super, the staff's been cordial," he said.

Dennison said he was surprised to hear that documents from Rolling Hills had been found somewhere they shouldn't have been.

Rolling Hills chief nursing officer Roberts said, "We know there are many, many people who could benefit from mental health services, and we hope this incident is not a barrier to them receiving treatment."

Reach Jill Cowan at 615-664-2150 or on Twitter at @jillcowan and Holly Fletcher at 615-259-8287 or on Twitter @hollyfletcher.