SB 618

This bill requires the Department of Health Services to award a onetime grant

to a critical access hospital to support the cost of a behavioral health crisis

management system. DHS must award the grant to a critical access hospital that

meets certain criteria, including providing alcohol and drug abuse assessment and

treatment services and inpatient psychiatric services and presenting a proposal that

does all of the following: 1) provides in-person triage, assessment, and brief

intervention services to persons presenting in the hospital emergency department

for reasons related to a behavioral health crisis; 2) provides these services through

video telemedicine consultation to persons presenting in hospital emergency

departments, other than the hospital's emergency department, in the hospital's

region; and 3) coordinates the transfer of persons who require care for a behavioral

health condition to another facility, as appropriate.