Patients’ Rights Committee
The purpose of the Patients’ Rights Committee (PRC) is to monitor, review, evaluate, and recommend improvements in the protection and upholding of patients’ rights to receive effective, timely, and humane treatment in a public mental health system in California. Each patient should be afforded the opportunity to receive excellent mental health care or the option to decline care if appropriate.
To learn more about the committee’s purpose, mandates, goals, and membership, see the Committee Charter and the Patients’ Rights Committee Fact Sheet.
Upcoming Meetings
Quarterly Meeting
- Date: June 17, 2026
- Time: 10:30 am to 12:30 pm
- Location: Riverside, CA
- Zoom Meeting Link
- Meeting Agenda and Full Meeting Packet
Please visit the Patients’ Rights Committee Meetings Archive page for information on past meetings.
Committee Documents
- Legislative Analyst’s Office Report on County Patients’ Rights Advocate Staffing Requirements – A report by the Legislative Analyst’s Office on County Mental Health Patients’ Rights Advocate staffing, conducted at the request of Susan Eggman. The report includes findings and analysis of Patients’ Rights Advocate duties and previous efforts to establish a staffing ratio requirement, and recommendations for further action by the state legislature. This report was released to the Patient’s Rights Committee by Susan Eggman’s office.
- Patients’ Rights Committee 2023 Analysis – Patients’ Rights Advocacy in California: Analysis and Recommendations.
- Patients’ Rights Committee 2021 Survey Analysis – 2021 Survey of County Mental Health Patients’ Rights Advocates on Patients’ Rights Advocacy in County Jails.
- Patients’ Rights Committee 2020 Survey Analysis – Survey of local behavioral health boards/commissions on county mental health patients’ rights advocacy.
- Title 9 County Patients’ Rights Advocates – An issue paper highlighting resource, training and retaliation issues in county patients’ rights programs in California.
Resources
California Office of Patients’ Rights (COPR) – The COPR is a unit within Disability Rights California contracted through the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) to provide the patients’ rights investigative and advocacy services required in W&I Code, Section 5370.2, as well as training and technical assistance to all county patients’ rights advocates.