RUMFORD — A correction plan from a mental health care provider, which is being sued by a former employee claiming it violated state and federal law, suggests state regulators found numerous problems which were eventually resolved.

The state’s report, which was not made available, was addressed in a 16-step plan to remediate issues regulators from the Department of Health and Human Services found with Oxford County Mental Health Services two years ago.

There have been no complaints against the facility, according to DHHS spokesperson John Martins, who said inspectors typically find deficiencies.

Citing policy, the Attorney General’s Office declined to comment if the nonprofit was being investigated. 

The facility is being sued by former employee Linda Perry, who filed a lawsuit with the U.S. District Court on Aug. 11, claiming her rights under Maine’s Whistleblower Protection Act and Human Rights Act were violated when senior management terminated her job March 21, 2013, in retaliation for raising concerns of breaches in state and federal law.

Perry alleges the company violated regulations for maintaining proper client care while she was employed there from 2010 to 2013. Oxford County Mental Health Services receives Maine Medicaid and MaineCare reimbursements for patients, which comes with subsequent regulations on their care.

According to the suit, numerous incidents in which patients did not receive counseling or other services from staffers at Andy’s Place, a long-term voluntary residence for clients, which she said amounted to “neglect.”

Specifically, treatment plans known as Individual Service Plans, which under state and federal requirements must be updated every 90 days, routinely expired and became obsolete, limiting the effectiveness of treatment.

The mental health facility began in 1994 under the name Greater Rumford Alliance for the Mentally Ill and was incorporated in 2001 as a charitable organization. It also has an office in Paris.

In response to DHHS’ periodic survey, the facility promised to update clinical processes and forms, according to a letter sent to the department by director Kirk Little.

The plan called for modifying forms for the ISP client plans, updating contracts with clients, ensuring treatment plans included clients’ goals and progress and instituting a quality assurance check to ensure the forms comply with regulations.

Specifically mentioning Andy’s Place, it called for two clients’ misplaced ISPs to be returned to their files. 

Regulators reissued the facility a two-year license in September 2012, on the condition the facility implement a correction plan addressing the issues. 

In June, their license was renewed for another two years until April 2016, with almost none of the issues from 2012 outstanding.

In a response to the complaint, the facility has denied the allegations, conceding that while many of the physical forms for patient care were not up to date, the facility complied with regulations and “goals and objectives were evaluated weekly and appropriate changes to guidance made at each such evaluation.”

Perry is seeking back pay, damages and reinstatement at her former position. A trial on the matter is not expected until June 2015, according to court documents.