II 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1346 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 appro- priate follow-on care for individuals who experience an acute mental health episode and present for care in an emergency department, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES APRIL 27, 2023 Mrs. CAPITO (for herself and Ms. HASSAN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 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 im- plement innovative approaches to securing prompt access to appropriate follow-on care for individuals who experi- ence an acute mental health episode and present for care in an emergency department, and for other pur- poses. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:21 May 04, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1346.IS S1346 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1346 IS SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Improving Mental 2 Health Access from the Emergency Department Act of 3 2023’’. 4 SEC. 2. SECURING APPROPRIATE FOLLOW-ON CARE FOR 5 ACUTE MENTAL HEALTH ILLNESS AFTER AN 6 EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT ENCOUNTER. 7 The Public Health Service Act is amended by insert- 8 ing after section 520J of such Act (42 U.S.C. 290bb–41) 9 the following new section: 10 ‘‘SEC. 520J–1. SECURING APPROPRIATE FOLLOW-ON CARE 11 FOR ACUTE MENTAL HEALTH ILLNESS AFTER 12 AN EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT ENCOUNTER. 13 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may award grants 14 on a competitive basis to qualifying health providers to 15 implement innovative approaches to securing prompt ac- 16 cess to appropriate follow-on care for individuals who ex- 17 perience an acute mental health episode and present for 18 care in an emergency department. 19 ‘‘(b) ELIGIBLE GRANT RECIPIENTS.—In this section, 20 the term ‘qualifying health provider’ means a health care 21 facility licensed under applicable law that— 22 ‘‘(1) has an emergency department; 23 ‘‘(2) is staffed by medical personnel (such as 24 emergency physicians, psychiatrists, psychiatric reg- 25 istered nurses, mental health technicians, clinical so- 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:21 May 04, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1346.IS S1346 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1346 IS cial workers, psychologists, and therapists) capable 1 of providing treatment focused on stabilizing acute 2 mental health conditions and assisting patients to 3 access resources to continue treatment in the least 4 restrictive appropriate setting; and 5 ‘‘(3) has arrangements in place with other pro- 6 viders of care that can provide a full range of medi- 7 cally-appropriate, evidence-based services for the 8 treatment of acute mental health episodes. 9 ‘‘(c) USE OF FUNDS.—A qualifying health provider 10 receiving funds under this section shall use such funds to 11 establish, support, or expand programs or projects in- 12 tended to assist individuals who are treated at the pro- 13 vider’s emergency department for acute mental health epi- 14 sodes and to expeditiously transition such individuals to 15 an appropriate facility or setting for follow-on care. Such 16 use of funds may support the following: 17 ‘‘(1) Expediting placement in appropriate facili- 18 ties through activities such as expanded coordination 19 with regional service providers, assessment, peer 20 navigators, bed availability tracking and manage- 21 ment, transfer protocol development, networking in- 22 frastructure development, and transportation serv- 23 ices. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:21 May 04, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1346.IS S1346 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1346 IS ‘‘(2) Increasing the supply of inpatient psy- 1 chiatric beds and alternative care settings such as 2 regional emergency psychiatric facilities. 3 ‘‘(3) Use of alternative approaches to providing 4 psychiatric care in the emergency department set- 5 ting, including through tele-psychiatric support and 6 other remote psychiatric consultation, implementa- 7 tion of peak period crisis clinics, or creation of psy- 8 chiatric emergency service units. 9 ‘‘(4) Use of approaches that include proactive 10 followup such as telephone check-ins, telemedicine, 11 or other technology-based outreach to individuals 12 during the period of transition. 13 ‘‘(5) Such other activities as the Secretary de- 14 termines appropriate, consistent with subsection (a). 15 ‘‘(d) APPLICATION.—A qualifying health provider de- 16 siring a grant under this section shall submit an applica- 17 tion to the Secretary at such time and in such manner 18 as the Secretary may require. At a minimum, the applica- 19 tion shall include the following: 20 ‘‘(1) A description of identified need for acute 21 mental health services in the provider’s service area. 22 ‘‘(2) A description of the existing efforts of the 23 provider to meet the need for acute mental health 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:21 May 04, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1346.IS S1346 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1346 IS services in the service area, and identified gaps in 1 the provision of such services. 2 ‘‘(3) A description of the proposed use of funds 3 to meet the need and gaps identified pursuant to 4 paragraph (2). 5 ‘‘(4) A description of how the provider will co- 6 ordinate efforts with Federal, State, local, and pri- 7 vate entities within the service area. 8 ‘‘(5) A description of program objectives, how 9 the objectives are proposed to be met, and how the 10 provider will evaluate outcomes relative to objectives. 11 ‘‘(e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—To 12 carry out this section, there is authorized to be appro- 13 priated $15,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2024 through 14 2028.’’. 15 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:21 May 04, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1346.IS S1346 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS