[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5414 Introduced in House (IH)]
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118th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 5414
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
appropriate follow-on care for individuals who experience an acute
mental health episode and present for care in an emergency department,
and for other purposes.
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IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
September 12, 2023
Mr. Ruiz (for himself and Mr. Fitzpatrick) introduced the following
bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce
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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
implement innovative approaches to securing prompt access to
appropriate follow-on care for individuals who experience an acute
mental health episode and present for care in an emergency department,
and for other purposes.
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 Act of 2023''.
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 inserting after section
520J of such Act (42 U.S.C. 290bb-41) 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 may award grants on a competitive
basis to qualifying health providers to implement innovative approaches
to securing prompt access to appropriate 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 registered nurses,
mental health technicians, clinical social 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 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.--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 appropriate
facility or setting for follow-on care. Such use of funds may support
the following:
``(1) 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.
``(2) Increasing the supply of inpatient psychiatric beds
and alternative care settings such as regional emergency
psychiatric facilities.
``(3) 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.
``(4) Use of approaches that include proactive followup
such as telephone check-ins, telemedicine, or other technology-
based outreach to individuals during the period of transition.
``(5) Such other activities as are determined by the
Secretary to be appropriate, consistent with subsection (a).
``(d) Application.--A qualifying health provider 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 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.
``(3) A description of the proposed use of funds to meet
the need and gaps identified pursuant to paragraph (2).
``(4) A description of how the provider will coordinate
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.--To carry out this section,
there is authorized to be appropriated $15,000,000 for each of fiscal
years 2024 through 2028.''.
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