An Act To Address Maine's Shortage of Behavioral Health Services for Minors
Maine Legislature, Session 130, LD 0118
Committee: Health and Human Services
Sponsors: McCREIGHT, CLAXTON, BRENNAN, CRAVEN, MEYER, MILLETT, STOVER, MOORE
Amends: 34-B MRSA §15001, 34-B MRSA §15005

Legislative Document
No. 118
H.P. 84
House of Representatives, January 13, 2021
An Act To Address Maine's Shortage of Behavioral Health Services 
for Minors
Received by the Clerk of the House on January 11, 2021.  Referred to the Committee on 
Health and Human Services pursuant to Joint Rule 308.2 and ordered printed pursuant to Joint 
Rule 401.
ROBERT B. HUNT
Clerk
Presented by Representative McCREIGHT of Harpswell.
Cosponsored by Senator CLAXTON of Androscoggin and
Representatives: BRENNAN of Portland, CRAVEN of Lewiston, MEYER of Eliot, MILLETT 
of Cape Elizabeth, STOVER of Boothbay, Senator: MOORE of Washington.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1.  34-B MRSA §15001, sub-§1-A is enacted to read:
1-A.  Behavioral health needs.  "Behavioral health needs" means a wide range of 
mental health disorders and illnesses, substance use disorder, developmental disabilities 
and autism spectrum disorder.
Sec. 2.  34-B MRSA §15001, sub-§6-A is enacted to read:
6-A.  Extended stay.  "Extended stay" means a stay of a patient in a health care facility 
that is longer than 24 hours.
Sec. 3.  34-B MRSA §15001, sub-§7-A is enacted to read:
7-A.  Hospital emergency department.  "Hospital emergency department" means the 
department of a hospital responsible for the provision of medical and surgical care to 
patients arriving at the hospital with health conditions, including illnesses and trauma, 
requiring immediate care.
Sec. 4.  34-B MRSA §15005 is enacted to read:
§15005.  Data collection regarding children in hospital emergency departments
1.  Data collection; posted on website.  A hospital shall provide data to the department 
in a mutually agreed upon format on the number of children with behavioral health needs 
remaining in hospital emergency departments for extended stays, the length of the extended 
stays and the reasons for the extended stays.  The department shall post aggregated data on 
an annual basis on a publicly accessible website without any information, including health 
care information, that may directly identify any individual child or family.
2.  Coordination by department.  The department shall designate coordinators who 
have the responsibility to facilitate the provision of appropriate services as needed for a 
child with behavioral health needs who no longer requires medical or surgical care in a 
hospital emergency department but requires services to address behavioral health needs in 
another setting, including, but not limited to, a hospital or a setting in the community.  The 
coordinator shall communicate between the department, the hospital emergency 
department and other providers of behavioral health services.
3.  Report.  Beginning January 1, 2023 and annually thereafter, the department shall 
submit a report to the joint standing committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over 
health and human services matters that includes an annual compilation of the data collected 
by the department pursuant to subsection 1 and any relevant actions taken by the 
department, including by coordinators authorized in subsection 2, that affect the number of 
children with behavioral health needs remaining in hospital emergency departments for 
extended stays and the length of the extended stays.
Sec. 5.  Department of Health and Human Services to promote and improve 
use of children's behavioral health program coordinators.  The Department of 
Health and Human Services, Office of Child and Family Services shall promote and 
improve the use of children's behavioral health program coordinators that are currently 
designated by the department to ensure children's emotional and behavioral challenges 
receive the most effective services in the least restrictive environment in order to assist 
hospital emergency departments to find appropriate behavioral health placements for 
children with behavioral health needs who no longer need medical or surgical care in a 
hospital emergency department.  The department shall submit a report, no later than 
January 1, 2023, to the joint standing committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over 
health and human services matters regarding its efforts to improve the use of behavioral 
health program coordinators to assist hospitals and children with behavioral health needs 
as described in this section.
SUMMARY
This bill requires the Department of Health and Human Services to collect data on the 
number of children with behavioral health needs remaining in hospital emergency 
departments for extended stays, the length of the extended stays and the reasons for the 
extended stays and post the data annually on a publicly accessible website without any 
information, including health care information, that may directly identify any individual 
child or family.  The department is required to submit a report to the joint standing 
committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over health and human services matters 
with annual data and any department efforts to reduce the number of children and lengths 
of stay.  The department is also required to promote and improve the use of the current 
children's behavioral health program coordinators within the Office of Child and Family 
Services to assist hospitals to place children in more appropriate behavioral health settings 
and report its efforts in a report to the joint standing committee of the Legislature having 
jurisdiction over health and human services matters.