2023 New York Laws › MHY - Mental Hygiene › Title E - General Provisions › Article 31 - Regulation and Quality Control of Services for the Mentally Disabled › 31.27 - Comprehensive Psychiatric Emergency Programs.

** § 31.27 Comprehensive psychiatric emergency programs.
(a) As used in this section:
(1) "Commissioner" means the commissioner of mental health.
(2) "Crisis  intervention  services"  means  services  provided  in an
emergency room located within a general hospital,  which  shall  include
but   not  be  limited  to:  psychiatric  and  medical  evaluations  and
assessments; prescription or adjustment of medication,  counseling,  and
other stabilization or treatment services intended to reduce symptoms of
mental illness when appropriate.
(3) "Crisis  outreach  services"  means psychiatric emergency services
provided  outside  an  emergency  room  setting  including   evaluation,
assessment   and  stabilization  services;  crisis  reduction  services;
referral services; and other psychiatric emergency services.
(5) "Extended observation bed" means an inpatient bed which is  in  or
adjacent  to  an  emergency  room  located  within a general hospital or
satellite facility approved by the commissioner, designed to  provide  a
safe  environment for an individual who, in the opinion of the examining
physician, requires extensive evaluation, assessment,  or  stabilization
of  the  person's  acute  psychiatric  symptoms,  except  that,  if  the
commissioner determines that the program can provide for the privacy and
safety of all patients receiving services in a hospital, he or  she  may
approve the location of one or more such beds within another unit of the
hospital.
(6) "General  hospital" shall be defined as in article twenty-eight of
the public health law.
(9) "Psychiatric  emergency  services"  means  services  designed   to
stabilize  and,  when  possible, reduce acute psychiatric symptoms of an
individual who appears to be mentally ill and in crisis.
(10) "Triage and referral services" means services designed to provide
preliminary diagnosis, assessment and evaluation of  individuals  served
by a comprehensive psychiatric emergency program in order to direct such
person to those services which appropriately address their needs.
(11) "Voluntary  agency"  shall be defined as in section 41.03 of this
chapter.
(12)  "Satellite  facility"  means  a   medical   facility   providing
psychiatric emergency services that is managed and operated by a general
hospital  who  holds  a  valid operating certificate for a comprehensive
psychiatric emergency program and  is  located  away  from  the  central
campus of the general hospital.
(b)  (1)  The  commissioner may license the operation of comprehensive
psychiatric emergency programs by general hospitals which  are  operated
by  state  or  local governments or voluntary agencies. The provision of
such services in general hospitals may  be  located  either  within  the
state  or, with the approval of the commissioner and the director of the
budget and to the extent consistent with state and  federal  law,  in  a
contiguous  state.  The commissioner is further authorized to enter into
interstate agreements for the purpose of facilitating the development of
programs which  provide  services  in  another  state.  A  comprehensive
psychiatric  emergency  program  shall  serve  as  a primary psychiatric
emergency service provider within a defined catchment area  for  persons
in  need of psychiatric emergency services including persons who require
immediate observation, care and treatment  in  accordance  with  section
9.40  of  this chapter. Each comprehensive psychiatric emergency program
shall provide or contract  to  provide  psychiatric  emergency  services
twenty-four  hours  per  day,  seven  days  per  week, including but not
limited to: crisis  intervention  services,  crisis  outreach  services,
extended observation beds, and triage and referral services.
(2)  The  commissioner  of  mental  health  shall  require  that  each
comprehensive psychiatric emergency program submit a plan. The plan must
be approved by the commissioner prior to the issuance  of  an  operating
certificate  pursuant  to  this  article. Each plan shall include: (i) a
description  of  the program's catchment area; (ii) a description of the
program's psychiatric emergency services, including but not  limited  to
crisis   intervention   services,  crisis  outreach  services,  extended
observation beds, and triage  and  referral  services,  whether  or  not
provided directly or through agreement with other providers of services;
(iii)  agreements  or affiliations with hospitals, as defined in section
1.03 of this chapter, to receive and admit persons who require inpatient
psychiatric services;  (iv)  agreements  or  affiliations  with  general
hospitals  to  receive  and  admit persons who have been referred by the
comprehensive psychiatric emergency program and who require  medical  or
surgical  care which cannot be provided by the comprehensive psychiatric
emergency program; (v) a description of local resources available to the
program to prevent unnecessary hospitalizations of persons, which  shall
include  agreements  with  local mental health, health, substance abuse,
alcoholism or  alcohol  abuse,  developmental  disabilities,  or  social
services agencies to provide appropriate services; (vi) a description of
the  program's  linkages  with  local police agencies, emergency medical
services, ambulance services, and other transportation agencies; (vii) a
description of local resources  available  to  the  program  to  provide
appropriate  community mental health services upon release or discharge,
which shall include case management services and agreements  with  state
or local mental health and other human service providers; (viii) written
criteria  and  guidelines  for  the development of appropriate discharge
planning for persons in need of post emergency  treatment  or  services;
(ix)  a  statement  indicating  that the program has been included in an
approved local services plan developed pursuant to article forty-one  of
this  chapter  for  each  local  government located within the program's
catchment area; and (x) any other information or agreements required  by
the commissioner.
(c)  Each  comprehensive  psychiatric  emergency program shall have at
least one physician, who is a member of the  psychiatric  staff  of  the
program,  on  duty  and  available  at all times, provided, however, the
commissioner may promulgate regulations to  permit  the  issuance  of  a
waiver  of this requirement when the volume of service of a program does
not require such level of staff coverage.
(d) The commissioner  shall  promulgate  regulations  to  establish  a
maximum  number  and  location of extended observation beds which may be
provided in a program, including provisions to maximize the privacy  and
safety  of all patients receiving services in the hospital in which such
extended observation beds are located.
(e) The commissioner may prevent new presentations and admissions from
entering  a  comprehensive  psychiatric  emergency  program   when   the
commissioner  concludes  that  the  ability  of  the  program to deliver
quality  services  would  be  jeopardized.  Before   reaching   such   a
conclusion,  the  commissioner  shall consider the effect presenting new
presentations and admissions may have on other hospital emergency  rooms
which provide psychiatric emergency services, and the commissioner shall
review  the  continued necessity for such prevention at least once every
twenty-four hours.
(f) The commissioner and the commissioner of health shall enter into a
cooperative  agreement  to  govern  the   operation   of   comprehensive
psychiatric  emergency  programs  including  visitation,  inspection and
supervision of such programs, enforcement of the conditions of operating
certificates issued by the office of mental health and the department of

health,  and  the  protection  of  the   confidentiality   of   clinical
information regarding patients at such programs.
(g) The office of mental health, the department of social services and
the  department  of  health  shall  establish  a uniform system by which
general hospitals  which  operate  comprehensive  psychiatric  emergency
programs shall report the cost of operating such programs.
(h)  Notwithstanding  any  other  provision  of  law,  nothing in this
section shall be interpreted to create an entitlement for any individual
to receive psychiatric emergency services in a comprehensive psychiatric
emergency program.
** NB Repealed July 1, 2027