By: Armbrister S.B. No. 78 73R4679 CBH-F A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 1-1 AN ACT 1-2 relating to the authority of the Texas Department of Mental Health 1-3 and Mental Retardation to designate a skilled nursing facility to 1-4 provide court-ordered mental health services. 1-5 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: 1-6 SECTION 1. Section 571.003(9), Health and Safety Code, is 1-7 amended to read as follows: 1-8 (9) "Inpatient mental health facility" means a mental 1-9 health facility that can provide 24-hour residential and 1-10 psychiatric services and that is: 1-11 (A) a facility operated by the department; 1-12 (B) a private mental hospital licensed by the 1-13 department; 1-14 (C) a community center; 1-15 (D) a facility operated by a community center or 1-16 other entity the department designates to provide mental health 1-17 services, including a skilled nursing facility; 1-18 (E) an identifiable part of a general hospital 1-19 in which diagnosis, treatment, and care for persons with mental 1-20 illness is provided and that is licensed by the department or the 1-21 Texas Department of Health; or 1-22 (F) a hospital operated by a federal agency. 1-23 SECTION 2. Subchapter A, Chapter 571, Health and Safety 1-24 Code, is amended by adding Section 571.0045 to read as follows: 2-1 Sec. 571.0045. PROVISION OF COURT-ORDERED MENTAL HEALTH 2-2 SERVICES IN SKILLED NURSING FACILITY. (a) The department may 2-3 designate a skilled nursing facility to provide court-ordered 2-4 mental health services to one or more patients who have severe 2-5 mental impairments. 2-6 (b) A patient may be admitted or transferred to a designated 2-7 facility only if the department determines that the patient can be 2-8 adequately cared for in a skilled nursing facility rather than in a 2-9 mental hospital. 2-10 (c) In transferring patients from a state mental hospital to 2-11 a skilled nursing facility, the department shall give priority to a 2-12 patient who cannot be treated in the community and whose only 2-13 choice for treatment other than a skilled nursing facility is an 2-14 acute care or state mental hospital. 2-15 (d) The department by rule shall prescribe the conditions 2-16 and procedures under which a patient may be admitted or transferred 2-17 to a designated facility. The rules must specifically address 2-18 ways to protect the welfare of the patient and the efficiency of 2-19 appropriate admission and transfer procedures. 2-20 (e) A skilled nursing facility designated to provide 2-21 court-ordered mental health services must be licensed under Chapter 2-22 577. 2-23 SECTION 3. Subchapter B, Chapter 575, Health and Safety 2-24 Code, is amended by adding Section 575.018 to read as follows: 2-25 Sec. 575.018. TRANSFER TO DESIGNATED SKILLED NURSING 2-26 FACILITY. (a) The department may transfer a patient, if the 2-27 transfer is considered advisable, from a state mental hospital to a 3-1 skilled nursing facility designated by the department to provide 3-2 court-ordered mental health services. 3-3 (b) The department shall provide to the committing court 3-4 written notice of the transfer before transferring a patient under 3-5 this section. 3-6 SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 1993. 3-7 SECTION 5. The importance of this legislation and the 3-8 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an 3-9 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the 3-10 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several 3-11 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.