A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to appropriate funds for an adult care home screening process for mental health and developmental disability conditions, appropriate funds for transitional residential treatment program pilot sites, appropriate funds to support assessment and service plan development in adult care homes, and to study suitable methods to provide direct care workers with Targeted and cost-effective training on the care of individuals with mental illness, as recommended by the Study Commission on Aging.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.(a)  There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Medical Assistance, the sum of one million seven hundred sixty‑four thousand dollars ($1,764,000) for the 2008‑2009 fiscal year to be used to design, develop, and implement on a pilot basis, a screening process for mental health and developmental disability conditions as part of the adult care home admission process.  This process shall duplicate the nursing facility admission process and shall consist of an automated screening tool, and where indicated, a face‑to‑face assessment by a mental health or developmental disabilities professional.  The mental health and developmental disabilities screening and assessment process will be compatible with, and support, the comprehensive assessment and service planning process now being implemented by adult care home providers.
SECTION 1.(b)  The Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Medical Assistance, Division of Health Service Regulation, and Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities, and Substance Abuse Services, shall provide an interim report by October 15, 2008, and a final report by October 15, 2009, to the North Carolina Study Commission on Aging, the Senate Appropriations Committee on Health and Human Services, and the House of Representatives Appropriations Subcommittee on Health and Human Services on the design, development, and piloting of the screening process provided in this section.  The report must contain the following information:
(1)	The number of individuals that received initial screening prior to adult care home admission as a result of the pilot.
(2)	The number of individuals that needed and received an additional mental health evaluation as a result of the pilot.
(3)	Of the individuals screened, the number admitted to an adult care home.
(4)	Of the individuals screened, the number for which adult care home placement was not deemed appropriate.
(5)	A process chart of the screening process for adult care home admissions, depicting who performs the screening and turnaround times for each step in the process.
(6)	Information on whether preadmission screening resulted in adult care home admission delays and how these are handled.
(7)	A recommendation on whether the screening process should be expanded statewide to include all individuals prior to adult care home admission.
(8)	A recommendation on statutory or policy changes that are needed for statewide implementation
(9)	A breakdown of costs associated with statewide implementation of a screening process. 
SECTION 2.  There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities, and Substance Abuse Services, the sum of five hundred sixty‑seven thousand eighty‑four dollars ($567,084) for the 2008‑2009 fiscal year to be used to fund three Transitional Residential Treatment Program pilot sites which shall be located in geographically diverse regions and shall begin operation in January 2009.
SECTION 3.(a)  There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Medical Assistance, the sum of five hundred eighty thousand dollars ($580,000) to support an existing resident assessment and service plan system being implemented by adult care home providers.
SECTION 3.(b)  The Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Medical Assistance and the Division of Health Service Regulation, shall provide an interim report to the North Carolina Study Commission on Aging, the Senate Appropriations Committee on Health and Human Services, and the House of Representatives Appropriations Subcommittee on Health and Human Services by November 1, 2008, and a final report by November 1, 2009, on assessment and service plan development for adult care home residents and the use of funding appropriated in this section.
SECTION 4.  The Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Medical Assistance, Division of Health Service Regulation, and Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities, and Substance Abuse Services, shall work with adult care home providers and build on recent studies to determine the most appropriate and cost-effective way to provide training on the care of individuals with mental illness to direct care workers in adult care homes by tailoring the training to resident assessment results and utilizing Web‑based formats as appropriate.  The Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Medical Assistance and the Division of Health Service Regulation, shall provide an interim report to the North Carolina Study Commission on Aging, the Senate Appropriations Committee on Health and Human Services, and the House of Representatives Appropriations Subcommittee on Health and Human Services by November 1, 2008, and a final report by November 1, 2009, on findings and recommendations for training of direct care workers.
SECTION 5.  This act becomes effective July 1, 2008.