Title: Mental Health Early Intervention

Summary: Designates act as "Florida Mental Health Early Intervention Act of 2015"; authorizes physician assistants & ARNPs to initiate involuntary examinations under Baker Act of persons believed to have mental illness; requires DCF, in consultation with specified entities, to establish standards for instruction of first responders in mental health; provides requirements for such training.

Full Text:
An act relating to mental health early intervention; providing a short title; amending s. 394.463, F.S.; authorizing physician assistants and advanced registered nurse practitioners to initiate involuntary examinations under the Baker Act of persons believed to have mental illness; creating s. 394.47892, F.S.; providing legislative findings; requiring the Department of Children and Families, in consultat ion with specified entities, to adopt standards for the training of first responders in mental health; providing requirements for such training; providing an effective date. Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: Section 1. This act may be cited as the "Florida Mental Health Early Intervention Act of 2015." Section 2. Paragraph (a) of subsection (2) of section 394.463, Florida Statutes, is amended to read: 394.463 Involuntary examination.-(2) INVOLUNTARY EXAMINATION.-(a) An involuntary examination may be initiated by any one of the following means: 1. A court may enter an ex parte order stating that a person appears to meet the criteria for involuntary examination, HB 2015 giving the findings on which that conclusion is bas ed. The ex parte order for involuntary examination must be based on sworn testimony, written or oral. If other less restrictive means are not available, such as voluntary appearance for outpatient evaluation, a law enforcement officer, or other designated agent of the court, shall take the person into custody and deliver him or her to the nearest receiving facility for involuntary examination. The order of the court shall be made a part of the patient's clinical record. No fee shall be charged for the filing of an order under this subsection. Any receiving facility accepting the patient based on this order must send a copy of the order to the Agency for Health Care Administration on the next working day. The order shall be valid only until executed or, if no texecuted, for the period specified in the order itself. If no time limit is specified in the order, the order shall be valid for days after the date that the order was signed. 2. A law enforcement officer shall take a person who appears to meet the criteria for involuntary examination into custody and deliver the person or have him or her delivered to the nearest receiving facility for examination. The officer shall execute a written report detailing the circumstances under which the person was taken into custody, and the report shall be made a part of the patient's clinical record. Any receiving facility accepting the patient based on this report must send a copy of the report to the Agency for Health Care Administration HB 2015 on the next working day. 3. A physician, physician assistant, clinical psychologist, psychiatric nurse, mental health counselor, marriage and family therapist, or clinical social worker,or advanced registered nurse practitioner may execute a certificate stating that he or she has ex amined a person within the preceding hours and finds that the person appears to meet the criteria for involuntary examination and stating the observations upon which that conclusion is based. If other less restrictive means are not available, such as vo luntary appearance for outpatient evaluation, a law enforcement officer shall take the person named in the certificate into custody and deliver him or her to the nearest receiving facility for involuntary examination. The law enforcement officer shall execute a written report detailing the circumstances under which the person was taken into custody. The report and certificate shall be made a part of the patient's clinical record. Any receiving facility accepting the patient based on this certificate must se nd a copy of the certificate to the Agency for Health Care Administration on the next working day. Section 3. Section 394.47892, Florida Statutes, is created to read: 394.47892 First responder training in mental health.-(1) The Legislature finds that an emergency medical technician, a paramedic, a firefighter, or a law enforcement officer is likely to be the first responder to a request for HB 2015 assistance involving a person with a mental illness. The Legislature further finds that these first responder sshould be trained in appropriate responses to a person with a mental illness. (2) The basic training programs required for certification as an emergency medical technician, a paramedic, a firefighter, or a law enforcement officer as defined in s. 943.1 0, other than a correctional officer or a correctional probation officer, must include a curriculum that contains instruction to help identify and understand the signs of mental illness and provide the first responder with skills to appropriately help a pe rson who is developing or experiencing a mental health problem. (3) The department, in consultation with the Emergency Medical Services Advisory Council; the Firefighters Employment, Standards, and Training Council; and the Criminal Justice Standards and Training Commission, shall adopt and modify as necessary, by rule, curriculum standards for first responder training that meet the requirements of subsection (2). Section 4. This act shall take effect July 1, 2015.