(B)
Duties
An individual so designated shall, in accordance with the policies and procedures established by the Office and the State agency—
(i)
provide services to protect the health, safety, welfare
1
So in original. Probably should be followed by a comma.
and rights of residents;
(ii)
ensure that residents in the service area of the entity have regular, timely access to representatives of the program and timely responses to complaints and requests for assistance;
(iii)
identify, investigate, and resolve complaints made by or on behalf of residents that relate to action, inaction, or decisions, that may adversely affect the health, safety, welfare, or rights of the residents;
(iv)
represent the interests of residents before government agencies and seek administrative, legal, and other remedies to protect the health, safety, welfare, and rights of the residents;
(v)
(I)
review, and if necessary, comment on any existing and proposed laws, regulations, and other government policies and actions, that pertain to the rights and well-being of residents; and
(II)
facilitate the ability of the public to comment on the laws, regulations, policies, and actions;
(vi)
support, actively encourage, and assist in the development of resident and family councils;
(vii)
identify, investigate, and resolve complaints described in clause (iii) that are made by or on behalf of residents with limited or no decisionmaking capacity and who have no known legal representative, and if such a resident is unable to communicate consent for an Ombudsman to work on a complaint directly involving the resident, the Ombudsman shall seek evidence to indicate what outcome the resident would have communicated (and, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, shall assume that the resident wishes to have the resident’s health, safety, welfare, and rights protected) and shall work to accomplish that outcome; and
(viii)
carry out other activities that the Ombudsman determines to be appropriate.
(C)
Eligibility for designation
Entities eligible to be designated as local Ombudsman entities, and individuals eligible to be designated as representatives of such entities, shall—
(i)
have demonstrated capability to carry out the responsibilities of the Office;
(ii)
be free of conflicts of interest and not stand to gain financially through an action or potential action brought on behalf of individuals the Ombudsman serves;
(iii)
in the case of the entities, be public or nonprofit private entities; and
(iv)
meet such additional requirements as the Ombudsman may specify.