I 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1205 

To authorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services, acting through 

the Director of the Center for Mental Health Services of the Substance 

Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, to award grants to 

implement innovative approaches to securing prompt access to appropriate follow-on care for individuals who experience an acute mental 

health episode and present for care in an emergency department, and 

for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 22, 2021 

Mr. RUIZ introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To authorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services, 

acting through the Director of the Center for Mental 

Health Services of the Substance Abuse and Mental 

Health Services Administration, to award grants to implement innovative approaches to securing prompt access 

to appropriate follow-on care for individuals who experience an acute mental health episode and present for 

care in an emergency department, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Improving Mental 

3 Health Access from the Emergency Department Act of 

4 2021’’. 

5 SEC. 2. SECURING APPROPRIATE FOLLOW-ON CARE FOR 

6 ACUTE MENTAL HEALTH ILLNESS AFTER AN 

7 EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT ENCOUNTER. 

8 The Public Health Service Act is amended by insert9 ing after section 520J of such Act (42 U.S.C. 290bb–31) 

10 the following new section: 

11 ‘‘SEC. 520J–1. SECURING APPROPRIATE FOLLOW-ON CARE 

12 FOR ACUTE MENTAL HEALTH ILLNESS AFTER 

13 AN EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT ENCOUNTER. 

14 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may award grants 

15 on a competitive basis to qualifying health providers to 

16 implement innovative approaches to securing prompt ac17 cess to appropriate follow-on care for individuals who ex18 perience an acute mental health episode and present for 

19 care in an emergency department. 

20 ‘‘(b) ELIGIBLE GRANT RECIPIENTS.—In this section, 

21 the term ‘qualifying health provider’ means a health care 

22 facility licensed under applicable law that— 

23 ‘‘(1) has an emergency department; 

24 ‘‘(2) is staffed by medical personnel (such as 

25 emergency physicians, psychiatrists, psychiatric reg26 istered nurses, mental health technicians, clinical soVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:19 Mar 13, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1205.IH H1205

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1 cial workers, psychologists, and therapists) capable 

2 of providing treatment focused on stabilizing acute 

3 mental health conditions and assisting patients to 

4 access resources to continue treatment in the least 

5 restrictive appropriate setting; and 

6 ‘‘(3) has arrangements in place with other pro7 viders of care that can provide a full range of medi8 cally appropriate, evidence-based services for the 

9 treatment of acute mental health episodes. 

10 ‘‘(c) USE OF FUNDS.—A qualifying health provider 

11 receiving funds under this section shall use such funds to 

12 create, support, or expand programs or projects intended 

13 to assist individuals who are treated at the provider’s 

14 emergency department for acute mental health episodes 

15 and to expeditiously transition such individuals to an ap16 propriate facility or setting for follow-on care. Such use 

17 of funds may support the following: 

18 ‘‘(1) Expediting placement in appropriate facili19 ties through activities such as expanded coordination 

20 with regional service providers, assessment, peer 

21 navigators, bed availability tracking and manage22 ment, transfer protocol development, networking in23 frastructure development, and transportation serv24 ices. 


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1 ‘‘(2) Increasing the supply of inpatient psy2 chiatric beds and alternative care settings such as 

3 regional emergency psychiatric facilities. 

4 ‘‘(3) Use of alternative approaches to providing 

5 psychiatric care in the emergency department set6 ting, including through tele-psychiatric support and 

7 other remote psychiatric consultation, implementa8 tion of peak period crisis clinics, or creation of psy9 chiatric emergency service units. 

10 ‘‘(4) Use of approaches that include proactive 

11 followup such as telephone check-ins, telemedicine, 

12 or other technology-based outreach to individuals 

13 during the period of transition. 

14 ‘‘(5) Such other activities as are determined by 

15 the Secretary to be appropriate, consistent with sub16 section (a). 

17 ‘‘(d) APPLICATION.—A qualifying health provider de18 siring a grant under this section shall prepare and submit 

19 an application to the Secretary at such time and in such 

20 manner as the Secretary may require. At a minimum, the 

21 application shall include the following: 

22 ‘‘(1) A description of identified need for acute 

23 mental health services in the provider’s service area. 

24 ‘‘(2) A description of the existing efforts of the 

25 provider to meet the need for acute mental health 


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1 services in the service area, and identified gaps in 

2 the provision of such services. 

3 ‘‘(3) A description of the proposed use of funds 

4 to meet the need and gaps identified pursuant to 

5 paragraph (2). 

6 ‘‘(4) A description of how the provider will co7 ordinate efforts with Federal, State, local, and pri8 vate entities within the service area. 

9 ‘‘(5) A description of program objectives, how 

10 the objectives are proposed to be met, and how the 

11 provider will evaluate outcomes relative to objectives. 

12 ‘‘(e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—To 

13 carry out this section, there is authorized to be appro14 priated $15,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2022 through 

15 2026.’’. 

Æ 


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