Title: Improving Mental Health Access from the Emergency Department
Policy area: Health

Summary:
Improving Mental Health Access from the Emergency Department Act
This bill authorizes the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration to award grants to qualifying emergency departments for the purpose of supporting mental-health services. Specifically, grant recipients must use funds to support the provision of follow-up services for individuals who present for care of acute mental-health episodes, such as placement in appropriate facilities.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1334 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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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.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives 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''.

SEC. 2. PROGRAM TO SUPPORT ACCESS TO APPROPRIATE CARE FOR INDIVIDUALS 
              PRESENTING AT EMERGENCY DEPARTMENTS WITH ACUTE MENTAL 
              HEALTH ILLNESS.

    Subpart 3 of part B of title V of the Public Health Service Act (42 
U.S.C. 290bb-31 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following:

``SEC. 520N. SECURING APPROPRIATE CARE FOR ACUTE MENTAL HEALTH ILLNESS 
              FOLLOWING AN EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT ENCOUNTER.

    ``(a) In General.--The Secretary, acting through the Director of 
the Center for Mental Health Services, may award grants on a 
competitive basis to eligible entities to implement innovative 
approaches to securing prompt access to appropriate follow-on care for 
individuals experiencing acute mental health episodes and presenting 
for care in emergency departments.
    ``(b) Eligible Entities.--To be eligible to receive a grant under 
this section, an entity shall be a health care facility licensed under 
applicable law that--
            ``(1) has an emergency department;
            ``(2) is staffed by medical personnel (which may include 
        emergency physicians, psychiatrists, psychiatric registered 
        nurses, mental health technicians, clinical social workers, 
        psychologists, and therapists) capable of providing treatment 
        focused on stabilizing acute mental health conditions and 
        assisting individuals to access resources to continue treatment 
        in the least restrictive appropriate setting; and
            ``(3) has arrangements in place with other providers of 
        care that can provide a full range of medically appropriate, 
        evidence-based services for the treatment of acute mental 
        health episodes.
    ``(c) Use of Funds.--An entity receiving a grant under this section 
shall use funds received under such grant to create, support, or expand 
programs or projects intended to assist individuals who are treated at 
its emergency department for acute mental health episodes and to 
expeditiously transition such individuals to an appropriate facility or 
setting for follow-on care. Such uses may include any of the following:
            ``(1) Emergency department evaluation, treatment, 
        stabilization, observation, and referral (including 
        implementation of validated screening tools).
            ``(2) Expediting placement in appropriate facilities 
        through activities such as expanded coordination with regional 
        service providers, assessment, peer navigators, bed 
        availability tracking and management, transfer protocol 
        development, networking infrastructure development, and 
        transportation services.
            ``(3) Increasing the supply of inpatient psychiatric beds 
        and alternative care settings such as regional emergency 
        psychiatric facilities.
            ``(4) 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.
            ``(5) Such other activities as the Secretary may determine 
        appropriate.
    ``(d) Application.--An eligible entity desiring 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 entity's service area.
            ``(2) A description of the existing efforts of the entity 
        to meet the need for acute mental health services in the 
        service area, and identified gaps in the provision of such 
        services.
            ``(3) A description of the proposed use of funds to meet 
        the needs and gaps identified under paragraph (2).
            ``(4) A description of how the entity will coordinate its 
        efforts with Federal, State, local, and private entities within 
        the service area.
            ``(5) A description of program objectives, how the 
        objectives are proposed to be met, and how the provider will 
        evaluate outcomes relative to objectives.
    ``(e) Authorization of Appropriations.--For the purpose of carrying 
out this section, there are authorized to be appropriated $15,000,000 
for each of fiscal years 2021 through 2025.''.
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