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 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 
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. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Improving Mental 
Health Access from the Emergency Department Act of 
2019’’. 
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 insert-
ing after section 520J of such Act (42 U.S.C. 290bb–31) 
the following 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, acting through 
the Director of the Center, may award grants on a com-
petitive basis to qualifying health providers 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. 
‘‘(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; 
‘‘(2) is staffed by medical personnel (such as 
emergency physicians, psychiatrists, psychiatric reg-
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istered nurses, mental health technicians, clinical so-
cial workers, psychologists, and therapists) capable 
of providing treatment focused on stabilizing acute 
mental 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 
receiving funds under this section shall use such funds to 
create, support, or expand programs or projects intended 
to assist individuals who are treated at the provider’s 
emergency department for acute mental health episodes 
and to expeditiously transition such individuals to an ap-
propriate 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 
navigators, bed availability tracking and manage-
ment, transfer protocol development, networking in-
frastructure development, and transportation serv-
ices. 
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‘‘(2) Increasing the supply of inpatient psy-
chiatric beds and alternative care settings such as 
regional emergency psychiatric facilities. 
‘‘(3) Use of alternative approaches to providing 
psychiatric care in the emergency department set-
ting, including through tele-psychiatric support and 
other remote psychiatric consultation, implementa-
tion of peak period crisis clinics, or creation of psy-
chiatric emergency service units. 
‘‘(4) 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. 
‘‘(2) A description of the existing efforts of the 
provider to meet the need for acute mental health 
services in the service area, and identified gaps in 
the provision of such services. 
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