IB 
Union Calendar No. 444 
116TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 2519 
[Report No. 116–544] 
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 appro-
priate 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 
SEPTEMBER 29, 2020 
Additional sponsors: Miss RICE of New York and Mr. TRONE 
SEPTEMBER 29, 2020 
Reported with an amendment; committed to the Committee of the Whole 
House on the State of the Union and ordered to be printed 
[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 
[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on May 3, 2019] 
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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 im-
plement innovative approaches to securing prompt access 
to appropriate follow-on care for individuals who experi-
ence an acute mental health episode and present for 
care in an emergency department, and for other pur-
poses. 
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Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Improving Mental 
Health Access from the Emergency Department Act of 
2020’’. 
SEC. 2. SECURING APPROPRIATE FOLLOW-ON CARE FOR 
ACUTE MENTAL HEALTH ILLNESS AFTER AN 
EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT ENCOUNTER. 
The Public Health Service Act is amended by inserting 
after section 520J of such Act (42 U.S.C. 290bb–31) the fol-
lowing new section: 
‘‘SEC. 520J–1. SECURING APPROPRIATE FOLLOW-ON CARE 
FOR ACUTE MENTAL HEALTH ILLNESS AFTER 
AN EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT ENCOUNTER. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may award grants 
on a competitive basis to qualifying health providers to im-
plement innovative approaches to securing prompt access 
to appropriate follow-on care for individuals who experi-
ence an acute mental health episode and present for care 
in an emergency department. 
‘‘(b) ELIGIBLE GRANT RECIPIENTS.—In this section, 
the term ‘qualifying health provider’ means a health care 
facility licensed under applicable law that— 
‘‘(1) has an emergency department; 
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‘‘(2) is staffed by medical personnel (such as 
emergency physicians, psychiatrists, psychiatric reg-
istered nurses, mental health technicians, clinical so-
cial workers, psychologists, and therapists) capable of 
providing treatment focused on stabilizing acute men-
tal health conditions and assisting patients to access 
resources to continue treatment in the least restrictive 
appropriate setting; and 
‘‘(3) has arrangements in place with other pro-
viders of care that can provide a full range of medi-
cally appropriate, evidence-based services for the 
treatment of acute mental health episodes. 
‘‘(c) USE OF FUNDS.—A qualifying health provider re-
ceiving funds under this section shall use such funds to cre-
ate, support, or expand programs or projects intended to 
assist individuals who are treated at the provider’s emer-
gency department for acute mental health episodes and to 
expeditiously transition such individuals to an appropriate 
facility or setting for follow-on care. Such use of funds may 
support the following: 
‘‘(1) Expediting placement in appropriate facili-
ties through activities such as expanded coordination 
with regional service providers, assessment, peer navi-
gators, bed availability tracking and management, 
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transfer protocol development, networking infrastruc-
ture development, and transportation services. 
‘‘(2) Increasing the supply of inpatient psy-
chiatric beds and alternative care settings such as re-
gional emergency psychiatric facilities. 
‘‘(3) Use of alternative approaches to providing 
psychiatric care in the emergency department setting, 
including through tele-psychiatric support and other 
remote psychiatric consultation, implementation of 
peak period crisis clinics, or creation of psychiatric 
emergency service units. 
‘‘(4) Use of approaches that include proactive 
followup such as telephone check-ins, telemedicine, or 
other technology-based outreach to individuals during 
the period of transition. 
‘‘(5) Such other activities as are determined by 
the Secretary to be appropriate, consistent with sub-
section (a). 
‘‘(d) APPLICATION.—A qualifying health provider de-
siring a grant under this section shall prepare and submit 
an application to the Secretary at such time and in such 
manner as the Secretary may require. At a minimum, the 
application shall include the following: 
‘‘(1) A description of identified need for acute 
mental health services in the provider’s service area. 
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