The Michigan Legislature recently introduced several bills related to behavioral health, all of which are aligned with the MHA Strategic Action Plan. These bills aim to address the challenges faced by hospitals when caring for behavioral health patients in the emergency department (ED). Each bill proposes specific policies to tackle these issues.
One of the bills, Senate Bill (SB) 802 introduced by Sen. Wojno (D-Warren), focuses on the sharing of information about community-based mental health and substance use disorder services. This bill aims to integrate this information with the Michigan Crisis and Access Line. SB 806, introduced by Sen. Hauck (R-Mount Pleasant), seeks to expand the responsibility of conducting three-hour assessments in the ED to clinically qualified staff. SB 811, introduced by Sen. Huizenga (R-Walker), aims to expand hospital swing bed eligibility to include inpatient behavioral health patients.
Additionally, there is a pending bill that aims to prohibit arbitrary limitations placed by commercial insurers on the duration of inpatient psychiatric admissions. The MHA is advocating in favor of these bills and is also working with other lawmakers to introduce additional legislation on this issue. An infographic highlighting the problems faced by hospitals in caring for behavioral health patients and proposing solutions will be shared with lawmakers, featuring data from the MHA’s behavioral health ED boarding survey.
For any questions regarding these bills, members can contact Lauren LaPine at the MHA.
