I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2519 

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 

MAY 3, 2019 

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 2019’’. 

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, acting through 

15 the Director of the Center, may award grants on a com16 petitive basis to qualifying health providers to implement 

17 innovative approaches to securing prompt access to appro18 priate follow-on care for individuals who experience an 

19 acute mental health episode and present for care in an 

20 emergency department. 

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

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

23 facility licensed under applicable law that— 

24 ‘‘(1) has an emergency department; 

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

26 emergency physicians, psychiatrists, psychiatric regVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:46 May 09, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2519.IH H2519

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1 istered nurses, mental health technicians, clinical so2 cial workers, psychologists, and therapists) capable 

3 of providing treatment focused on stabilizing acute 

4 mental health conditions and assisting patients to 

5 access resources to continue treatment in the least 

6 restrictive appropriate setting; and 

7 ‘‘(3) has arrangements in place with other pro8 viders of care that can provide a full range of medi9 cally appropriate, evidence-based services for the 

10 treatment of acute mental health episodes. 

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

12 receiving funds under this section shall use such funds to 

13 create, support, or expand programs or projects intended 

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

15 emergency department for acute mental health episodes 

16 and to expeditiously transition such individuals to an ap17 propriate facility or setting for follow-on care. Such use 

18 of funds may support the following: 

19 ‘‘(1) Expediting placement in appropriate facili20 ties through activities such as expanded coordination 

21 with regional service providers, assessment, peer 

22 navigators, bed availability tracking and manage23 ment, transfer protocol development, networking in24 frastructure development, and transportation serv25 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) Such other activities as are determined by 

11 the Secretary to be appropriate, consistent with sub12 section (a). 

13 ‘‘(d) APPLICATION.—A qualifying health provider de14 siring a grant under this section shall prepare and submit 

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

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

17 application shall include the following: 

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

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

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

21 provider to meet the need for acute mental health 

22 services in the service area, and identified gaps in 

23 the provision of such services. 


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

2 to meet the need and gaps identified pursuant to 

3 paragraph (2). 

4 ‘‘(4) A description of how the provider will co5 ordinate efforts with Federal, State, local, and pri6 vate entities within the service area. 

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

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

9 provider will evaluate outcomes relative to objectives. 

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

11 carry out this section, there is authorized to be appro12 priated $15,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2021 through 

13 2025.’’. 

Æ 


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