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An Act To Provide Needed Psychiatric Hospitalization for Persons with Mental Illness
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1.  22-A MRSA §206, sub-§9  is enacted to read:
 
9.  Psychiatric hospitalization.     The commissioner shall provide inpatient psychiatric hospitalization for a person with mental illness who is experiencing a psychiatric crisis and who has been determined, after an examination, to be in need of inpatient hospitalization by a licensed physician, registered physician assistant, certified psychiatric clinical nurse specialist, certified nurse practitioner or licensed clinical psychologist.
 
A.  The department shall provide access to inpatient psychiatric hospitalization to a person with a mental illness who is experiencing a psychiatric crisis and who has been determined to be in need of hospitalization within 12 hours of the person's being admitted to care in a correctional facility, hospital, crisis center or a facility offering assertive community treatment, as defined in Title 34-B, section 3801, subsection 11. The department shall provide access to hospitalization in a state mental health institute as defined in Title 34-B, section 3801, subsection 9 or a nonstate mental health institution as defined in Title 34-B, section 3801, subsection 6 that is located within or outside the State.
 
B.  If a bed is not available at a state mental health institute or a nonstate mental health institution in the State within 12 hours of the person with a mental illness being determined to need inpatient hospitalization, the commissioner shall provide hospitalization under this section in a psychiatric hospital outside the State. As soon as inpatient hospitalization space is available at a state mental health institute or a nonstate mental health institution within the State, the commissioner shall offer to the person an opportunity for transfer to a hospital in the State.
 
C.  To the extent they are not paid for as health benefits under a health plan, the costs of necessary transportation and inpatient psychiatric hospitalization pursuant to this subsection are the responsibility of the department, except that the department is not responsible for the costs incurred by a person who declines a transfer offered under paragraph B.
 
D.  The commissioner shall work cooperatively with state mental health institutes and nonstate mental health institutions within and outside the State to expand inpatient psychiatric services and ensure that inpatient psychiatric services are available to persons in need.
 
SUMMARY
This bill requires the Commissioner of Health and Human Services to make psychiatric hospitalization available to a person with mental illness who is experiencing a psychiatric crisis and who has been determined by a health care practitioner to be in need of hospitalization.