Relates to access to mental health services for Medicaid eligible individuals up to 21 years of age who are referred to the pre-admission certification committee; requires commissioner to evaluate what services are needed and how to provide them.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
725--A
2017-2018 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
January 4, 2017
___________
Introduced by Sen. ORTT -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Mental Health and Develop-
mental Disabilities -- reported favorably from said committee and
committed to the Committee on Finance -- committee discharged, bill
amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said commit-
tee
AN ACT to amend the mental hygiene law, in relation to access to mental
health services for children who are referred to the pre-admission
certification committee
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Section 9.51 of the mental hygiene law is amended by adding
2 two new subdivisions (h) and (i) to read as follows:
3 (h) Whenever a Medicaid eligible individual up to twenty-one years of
4 age is referred to the pre-admission certification committee by a physi-
5 cian authorized to discharge such individual from an inpatient hospital,
6 such individual shall have access to the mental health services for
7 which they are determined to be in need of by the referring physician
8 for up to thirty days pending the expedited review of the pre-admission
9 certification committee. For the purposes of this subdivision, any
10 referral by a physician for mental health services shall be done in
11 consultation with the facility being considered for such referral. The
12 commissioner, in carrying out the provisions of this subdivision, shall:
13 (1) develop, establish, and promulgate procedures to implement the
14 provisions of this subdivision. Such procedures shall be based upon the
15 specific needs of the individual and authorized in the environment
16 necessary to achieve the purposes of treatment prescribed by the refer-
17 ring physician until such individuals are approved by the pre-admission
18 certification committee or determined not to be eligible for such place-
19 ment; and
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD04610-03-7
S. 725--A 2
1 (2) notify, cooperate, guide, and assist local agencies, local govern-
2 ment units, community service boards, and/or providers of service.
3 (i) The commissioner shall:
4 (1) collect information, including the characteristics and number of
5 children requiring such thirty-day placements and expedited reviews by
6 the pre-admission certification;
7 (2) assess the number of children admitted to residential treatment
8 facilities through such means and recommend a plan to meet the future
9 needs of such children, including but not limited to whether such refer-
10 ral method should be continued, whether there is a need to develop a new
11 referral methodology and whether there is a need to develop a new
12 program that is a level of care other than residential treatment facili-
13 ties; and
14 (3) make an assessment of the success of the services so provided.
15 § 2. This act shall take effect on the first of January next succeed-
16 ing the date on which it shall have become a law.
