SB 19-222

Abstract

Medicaid - 1115 demonstration waiver - criminal or juvenile justice system prevention - mental health institute admission criteria - community behavioral health safety net system - appropriation. The act requires the department of health care policy and financing (state department) to develop measurable outcomes to monitor efforts to prevent medicaid recipients from becoming involved in the criminal or juvenile justice system. The act requires the state department to work collaboratively with managed care entities to create incentives for behavioral health providers to accept medicaid recipients with severe behavioral health disorders. The act requires the state department to determine if seeking a 1115 demonstration waiver is the necessary response to ensure inpatient services are available to individuals with a serious mental illness. If the state department determines it is not appropriate, the state department shall submit a report to the general assembly with the state department's reasoning and an alternative plan and proposed timeline for the implementation of the alternative plan. The act requires the state department to develop and implement admission criteria to the mental health institutes at Pueblo and Fort Logan. The act creates a community behavioral health safety net system (safety net system) and requires the department of human services, in collaboration with the state department, to conduct the following activities: Define what constitutes a high-intensity behavioral health treatment program (treatment program), determine what an adequate network of high-intensity behavioral health treatment services includes, and identify existing treatment programs; Develop an implementation plan to increase the number of treatment programs in the state; Identify an advisory body to assist the department in creating a comprehensive proposal to strengthen and expand the safety net system; Develop a comprehensive proposal to strengthen and expand the safety net system that provides behavioral health services for individuals with severe behavioral health disorders; Implement the comprehensive proposal and the funding model no later than January 1, 2024; and Provide an annual report from January 1, 2022, until July 1, 2024, on the safety net system to the public through the annual SMART Act hearing. The act appropriates $75,000 to the department of health care policy and financing from the general fund. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.) Read More