PRINTER'S NO. 942
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
HOUSE BILL
No.
721
Session of
2021
INTRODUCED BY D. MILLER, HILL-EVANS, MADDEN, McNEILL, SANCHEZ,
NEILSON, GALLOWAY, DELLOSO, WARREN, HOHENSTEIN, THOMAS,
CIRESI, O'MARA AND DEASY, MARCH 17, 2021
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON HEALTH, MARCH 17, 2021
AN ACT
Amending the act of July 19, 1979 (P.L.130, No.48), entitled "An
act relating to health care; prescribing the powers and
duties of the Department of Health; establishing and
providing the powers and duties of the State Health
Coordinating Council, health systems agencies and Health Care
Policy Board in the Department of Health, and State Health
Facility Hearing Board in the Department of Justice;
providing for certification of need of health care providers
and prescribing penalties," in general provisions, repeals
and effective date, providing for acute care mental health
bed registry and referrals.
The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
hereby enacts as follows:
Section 1. The act of July 19, 1979 (P.L.130, No.48), known
as the Health Care Facilities Act, is amended by adding a
section to read:
Section 901.1. Acute care mental health bed registry and
referrals.
(a) The department shall develop and administer an Internet
web-based acute care mental health bed registry to facilitate
the temporary hospitalization and treatment of individuals who
meet the criteria for inpatient examination and treatment under
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Article II or III of the act of July 9, 1976 (P.L.817, No.143),
known as the "Mental Health Procedures Act."
(b) The department shall make the bed registry accessible to
health care professionals and their designees who are treating
patients in need of mental health inpatient examination and
treatment and to participating facilities.
(c) The department shall design the bed registry to collect,
aggregate and display the information under subsection (d).
(d) The bed registry shall include all of the following
information:
(1) General descriptive information for each
participating facility, including contact information and the
type of treatment and services available at each
participating facility.
(2) Information on the number of acute care mental
health beds available at each participating facility, which
information shall be updated every eight hours.
(3) For each available acute care mental health bed at a
participating facility, the type of patient that may be
admitted.
(4) The level of security provided at each participating
facility.
(5) Any other information that may assist a health care
professional in identifying an appropriate acute care mental
health bed for an individual in need of inpatient examination
and treatment.
(e) The department shall design the bed registry to allow
health care professionals and their designees to search the bed
registry for an appropriate acute care mental health bed for an
individual in need of inpatient examination or treatment.
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(f) To be eligible to access the bed registry, a facility
must:
(1) submit information specified under subsection (d) to
the department for inclusion in the bed registry; and
(2) permit the facility's contact information to be
monitored and accessed at any time in accordance with the
department's regulations promulgated under subsection (h).
(g) The department may contract with a third party to
develop and administer the bed registry.
(h) The department shall make information regarding the bed
registry accessible to the public but with a limited view for
the purpose of protecting confidential personal or medical
information. The information regarding the bed registry that is
available on a publicly accessible Internet website shall
include:
(1) Descriptive information relating to the location and
contact information for each participating facility.
(2) The number of available beds and types of services
available at each participating facility.
(3) The number of individuals on a waiting list to
receive services.
(4) The estimated days until the next bed is available.
(5) The time and date that the bed registry was last
updated.
(i) The department shall promulgate regulations necessary to
implement this section.
(j) As used in this section, the following words and phrases
shall have the meanings given to them in this subsection unless
the context clearly indicates otherwise:
"Acute care mental health bed." A bed located at a mental
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health facility that provides acute care mental health services.
"Bed registry." The acute care mental health bed registry
established under this section.
"Facility." A mental health facility.
"Health care professional." An individual licensed as a
physician, osteopath, physician assistant or certified
registered nurse practitioner.
"Mental health facility." A distinct part of a general
hospital licensed by the department under this act or a facility
that exclusively cares for the mentally ill and is licensed by
the Department of Human Services under the "Mental Health
Procedures Act" or Article X of the act of June 13, 1967
(P.L.31, No.21), known as the "Human Services Code," that
provides inpatient mental health examination and treatment. The
term does not include the emergency department of a general
hospital.
"Participating facility." A facility that satisfies the
conditions under subsection (f).
Section 2. Within 10 days of the development of the bed
registry under section 901.1 of the act, the department shall
provide notice of the development of the bed registry to the
Legislative Reference Bureau, which shall publish notice in the
Pennsylvania Bulletin.
Section 3. This act shall take effect as follows:
(1) The following shall take effect immediately:
(i) This section.
(ii) The addition of section 901.1(h) of the act.
(2) The remainder of this act shall take effect 60 days
after the date of the publication of the notice under section
2 of this act.
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