116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 2519 

AN ACT 

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

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

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

5 Health Access from the Emergency Department Act of 

6 2020’’. 

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

8 ACUTE MENTAL HEALTH ILLNESS AFTER AN 

9 EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT ENCOUNTER. 

10 The Public Health Service Act is amended by insert11 ing after section 520J of such Act (42 U.S.C. 290bb–31) 

12 the following new section: 

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

14 FOR ACUTE MENTAL HEALTH ILLNESS AFTER 

15 AN EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT ENCOUNTER. 

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

17 on a competitive basis to qualifying health providers to 

18 implement innovative approaches to securing prompt ac19 cess to appropriate follow-on care for individuals who ex20 perience an acute mental health episode and present for 

21 care in an emergency department. 

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

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

24 facility licensed under applicable law that— 

25 ‘‘(1) has an emergency department; 
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1 ‘‘(2) is staffed by medical personnel (such as 

2 emergency physicians, psychiatrists, psychiatric reg3 istered nurses, mental health technicians, clinical so4 cial workers, psychologists, and therapists) capable 

5 of providing treatment focused on stabilizing acute 

6 mental health conditions and assisting patients to 

7 access resources to continue treatment in the least 

8 restrictive appropriate setting; and 

9 ‘‘(3) has arrangements in place with other pro10 viders of care that can provide a full range of medi11 cally appropriate, evidence-based services for the 

12 treatment of acute mental health episodes. 

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

14 receiving funds under this section shall use such funds to 

15 create, support, or expand programs or projects intended 

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

17 emergency department for acute mental health episodes 

18 and to expeditiously transition such individuals to an ap19 propriate facility or setting for follow-on care. Such use 

20 of funds may support the following: 

21 ‘‘(1) Expediting placement in appropriate facili22 ties through activities such as expanded coordination 

23 with regional service providers, assessment, peer 

24 navigators, bed availability tracking and manage25 ment, transfer protocol development, networking in-
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1 frastructure development, and transportation serv2 ices. 

3 ‘‘(2) Increasing the supply of inpatient psy4 chiatric beds and alternative care settings such as 

5 regional emergency psychiatric facilities. 

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

7 psychiatric care in the emergency department set8 ting, including through tele-psychiatric support and 

9 other remote psychiatric consultation, implementa10 tion of peak period crisis clinics, or creation of psy11 chiatric emergency service units. 

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

13 followup such as telephone check-ins, telemedicine, 

14 or other technology-based outreach to individuals 

15 during the period of transition. 

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

17 the Secretary to be appropriate, consistent with sub18 section (a). 

19 ‘‘(d) APPLICATION.—A qualifying health provider de20 siring a grant under this section shall prepare and submit 

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

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

23 application shall include the following: 

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

25 mental health services in the provider’s service area. 
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1 ‘‘(2) A description of the existing efforts of the 

2 provider to meet the need for acute mental health 

3 services in the service area, and identified gaps in 

4 the provision of such services. 

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

6 to meet the need and gaps identified pursuant to 

7 paragraph (2). 

8 ‘‘(4) A description of how the provider will co9 ordinate efforts with Federal, State, local, and pri10 vate entities within the service area. 

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

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

13 provider will evaluate outcomes relative to objectives. 

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

15 carry out this section, there is authorized to be appro16 priated $15,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2021 through 

17 2025.’’. 

Passed the House of Representatives September 29, 

2020. 

Attest: 

Clerk. 
116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 2519 

AN ACT 

To authorize the Secretary of Health and Human 

other purposes. for care in an emergency department, and for ence an acute mental health episode and present priate follow-on care for individuals who experiproaches to securing prompt access to approtion, to award grants to implement innovative apAbuse and Mental Health Services Administrater for Mental Health Services of the Substance Services, acting through the Director of the Cen-