AB 682

Bill Subjects

Abstract

Under existing law, the State Department of Public Health licenses and regulates health facilities, defined to include, among others, acute psychiatric hospitals. A violation of these provisions is a crime. Existing law, the Bronzan-McCorquodale Act, contains provisions governing the operation and financing of community mental health services for the mentally disordered in every county through locally administered and locally controlled community mental health programs. Existing law, the Lanterman-Petris-Short Act, provides for the involuntary commitment and treatment of persons with specified mental disorders for the protection of the persons so committed. Under the act, when a person, as a result of a mental health disorder, is a danger to others, or to himself or herself, or gravely disabled, he or she may, upon probable cause, be taken into custody by a peace officer, a member of the attending staff of an evaluation facility, designated members of a mobile crisis team, or another designated professional person, and placed in a facility designated by the county and approved by the State Department of Social Services as a facility for 72-hour treatment and evaluation. Existing law provides for the licensure, certification, and regulation of alcoholism or drug abuse recovery or treatment facilities, as defined, administered by the State Department of Health Care Services. This bill would require the State Department of Public Health, in consultation with specified entities, to develop and submit a proposal to solicit a grant under the federal 21st Century Cures Act to develop a real-time, Internet-based database to collect, aggregate, and display information about the availability of beds in inpatient psychiatric facilities, crisis stabilization units, residential community mental health facilities, and licensed residential alcoholism or drug abuse recovery or treatment facilities for treatment purposes. The bill would require a database created using grant funds received as a result of the submission of that proposal to have the capacity to collect data and enable a specified search to identify beds that are appropriate for the treatment of individuals and to include specified information, including, among other things, the contact information for the facility's designated employee and information on beds. The bill would require the department to confer with specified stakeholders to inform the development of the proposal and to submit an evaluation to the federal Health and Human Services Secretary and to the Legislature.