II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1334 

Authorizing a program to promote innovative approaches to securing prompt 

access to appropriate care for individuals presenting at emergency departments with acute mental health illness. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 6, 2019 

Mrs. CAPITO (for herself and Ms. HASSAN) introduced the following bill; which 

was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, 

Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

Authorizing a program to promote innovative approaches to 

securing prompt access to appropriate care for individuals presenting at emergency departments with acute 

mental health illness. 

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’’. 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS
2 

•S 1334 IS

1 SEC. 2. PROGRAM TO SUPPORT ACCESS TO APPROPRIATE 

2 CARE FOR INDIVIDUALS PRESENTING AT 

3 EMERGENCY DEPARTMENTS WITH ACUTE 

4 MENTAL HEALTH ILLNESS. 

5 Subpart 3 of part B of title V of the Public Health 

6 Service Act (42 U.S.C. 290bb–31 et seq.) is amended by 

7 adding at the end the following: 

8 ‘‘SEC. 520N. SECURING APPROPRIATE CARE FOR ACUTE 

9 MENTAL HEALTH ILLNESS FOLLOWING AN 

10 EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT ENCOUNTER. 

11 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, acting through 

12 the Director of the Center for Mental Health Services, 

13 may award grants on a competitive basis to eligible enti14 ties to implement innovative approaches to securing 

15 prompt access to appropriate follow-on care for individuals 

16 experiencing acute mental health episodes and presenting 

17 for care in emergency departments. 

18 ‘‘(b) ELIGIBLE ENTITIES.—To be eligible to receive 

19 a grant under this section, an entity shall be a health care 

20 facility licensed under applicable law that— 

21 ‘‘(1) has an emergency department; 

22 ‘‘(2) is staffed by medical personnel (which may 

23 include emergency physicians, psychiatrists, psy24 chiatric registered nurses, mental health technicians, 

25 clinical social workers, psychologists, and therapists) 

26 capable of providing treatment focused on stabilizing 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS
3 

•S 1334 IS

1 acute mental health conditions and assisting individ2 uals to access resources to continue treatment in the 

3 least restrictive appropriate setting; and 

4 ‘‘(3) has arrangements in place with other pro5 viders of care that can provide a full range of medi6 cally appropriate, evidence-based services for the 

7 treatment of acute mental health episodes. 

8 ‘‘(c) USE OF FUNDS.—An entity receiving a grant 

9 under this section shall use funds received under such 

10 grant to create, support, or expand programs or projects 

11 intended to assist individuals who are treated at its emer12 gency department for acute mental health episodes and 

13 to expeditiously transition such individuals to an appro14 priate facility or setting for follow-on care. Such uses may 

15 include any of the following: 

16 ‘‘(1) Emergency department evaluation, treat17 ment, stabilization, observation, and referral (includ18 ing implementation of validated screening tools). 

19 ‘‘(2) 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. 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS
4 

•S 1334 IS

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

3 regional emergency psychiatric facilities. 

4 ‘‘(4) 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 ‘‘(5) Such other activities as the Secretary may 

11 determine appropriate. 

12 ‘‘(d) APPLICATION.—An eligible entity desiring a 

13 grant under this section shall prepare and submit an ap14 plication to the Secretary at such time and in such manner 

15 as the Secretary may require. At a minimum, the applica16 tion shall include the following: 

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

18 mental health services in the entity’s service area. 

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

20 entity to meet the need for acute mental health serv21 ices in the service area, and identified gaps in the 

22 provision of such services. 

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

24 to meet the needs and gaps identified under para25 graph (2). 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS
5 

•S 1334 IS

1 ‘‘(4) A description of how the entity will coordi2 nate its efforts with Federal, State, local, and pri3 vate entities within the service area. 

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

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

6 provider will evaluate outcomes relative to objectives. 

7 ‘‘(e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—For the 

8 purpose of carrying out this section, there are authorized 

9 to be appropriated $15,000,000 for each of fiscal years 

10 2021 through 2025.’’. 

Æ 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS