Pennsylvania Code › Title 55 - HUMAN SERVICES › Part VII - Mental Health Manual › Subpart C - Administration and Fiscal Management › Chapter 5100 - MENTAL HEALTH PROCEDURES › INVOLUNTARY TREATMENT › Section 5100.90a - State mental hospital admission of involuntarily committed individuals-statement of policy

Current through Register Vol. 54, No. 28, July 13, 2024
(a) To
					 manage treatment resources more effectively and assure adequate Medical
					 Assistance reimbursement to community general and private psychiatric hospitals
					 for days of active treatment provided to Medical Assistance eligible persons
					 with mental illness, appropriate action shall be taken by the affected parties.
					 The following policy and procedures should be followed:
(1) Community general and private psychiatric
					 hospital staff should notify via telephone appropriate county MH/MR
					 staff-county administrator or designated agency-upon Medical Assistance
					 patients admission to the community general or private psychiatric hospital.
					 This information may be released to county administrators under §
												5100.32(a)(5)
					 (relating to nonconsensual release of information).
(2) Immediately upon determination of the
					 need for long-term psychiatric care, a referral package should be sent to the
					 admissions unit of the State mental hospital (SMH) so it is received at least 2
					 days prior to the date of the scheduled commitment hearing. The County MH/MR
					 Administrator or their designated agency should be notified by the community
					 general or private psychiatric hospital of the patient's need for long-term
					 psychiatric care. The items to be included in the referral package accompanying
					 a patient on admission to a State hospital under sections 304-306 of the Mental
					 Health Procedures Act (50 P. S. §§
													7304-7306) include:
(i) Signed and completed 304/305/306
					 commitment papers.
(ii) Psychiatric
					 assessment.
(iii) Medical
					 assessment.
(iv) Current
					 medications.
(v) Laboratory and
					 X-ray results.
(vi) Consultant's
					 reports.
(vii) Social history with
					 special emphasis on family assessment and discharge resources.
(viii) Psychological assessments-if
					 available.
(ix) BSU
					 activity.
(x) Assessments from
					 other clinical disciplines involved in the patient's treatment.
(3) The SMH admissions staff and
					 the staff of the community general or private psychiatric hospital will agree
					 upon the date that the patient will be admitted to the State hospital. The SMH
					 admissions staff shall notify the community general or private psychiatric
					 hospital of the agreed upon date of admission prior to the patient's scheduled
					 hearing date.
(4) The community
					 general or private psychiatric hospital staff shall notify the hearing officer
					 of the date of availability of a SMH bed.
(5) The hearing officer shall conduct the
					 hearing in a timely fashion in accordance with the timeframes required by the
					 Mental Health Procedures Act of 1976. A commitment order should contain the
					 agreed upon admission date to the SMH.
(6) The community general or private
					 psychiatric hospital staff shall maintain appropriate documentation of the
					 continuance of active treatment in the medical record until the patient is
					 transferred to the SMH. Refer to §
												1101.51(d) and
					 (e) (relating to ongoing responsibilities of
					 providers) for the description of appropriate documentation of the continuance
					 of active treatment.
(7) If the SMH
					 bed is unavailable on the scheduled date of transfer, the SMH is responsible
					 for contacting other State hospital facilities-within a 75-mile radius-to
					 obtain a bed for the patient. If no bed is available in the surrounding SMHs,
					 the initial SMH shall contact the next nearest SMH facility until a bed is
					 found. SMH admissions staff may not deny access to a patient when a bed is
					 available, except if, for clinical reasons, the clinical director deems the
					 admission inappropriate. The area director is responsible for reviewing and
					 monitoring denial of access to other State mental health facilities when a bed
					 is available.
(8) The SMH will
					 include in their Letter of Agreement with the county MH/MR program, the
					 methodology used for referring patients to another SMH when a bed is not
					 available. It is the intent of the Office of Mental Health to assure, whenever
					 feasible, that the patient's treatment be in or near the patient's home
					 community.