A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT requiring the department of health and human services to develop and report on strategies and recommendations for improving the delivery of mental health, developmental disabilities, and substance abuse services, as recommended by the joint legislative oversight committee on health and human services.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  The Department of Health and Human Services (Department) shall submit a report to the Joint Legislative Oversight Committee on Health and Human Services and the Fiscal Research Division by November 1, 2014, that includes all of the following components:
(1)	A strategy for improving communication and coordination among all divisions within the Department that administer funds or programs related to the delivery of behavioral health services, especially regarding the most appropriate and efficient uses of public and private inpatient behavioral health services. The Department shall include as part of its strategy a process to address shortages and deficiencies identified in the annual State Medical Facilities Plan.
(2)	A plan developed in collaboration with local management entities that have been approved to operate as managed care organizations (LME/MCOs) to increase access to, and availability of, community‑based outpatient crisis and emergency services for the stabilization and treatment of individuals experiencing mental health, developmental disability, or substance abuse crises in settings other than local hospital emergency departments and State‑operated psychiatric hospitals.
(3)	A plan to ensure that a comprehensive array of outpatient treatment and crisis prevention and intervention services are available and accessible to children, adolescents, and adults in every LME/MCO catchment area. The plan shall ensure that an adequate number of crisis stabilization units are available in each LME/MCO catchment area.
(4)	Findings and recommendations for increasing the inventory of inpatient psychiatric and substance abuse services within the State. In developing its findings and recommendations, the Department shall examine the advantages and disadvantages of increasing this inventory of services through (i) additional State‑operated facilities, (ii) community hospital beds, (iii) United States Veterans Administration beds, and (iv) community‑based services that decrease the need for inpatient treatment.
(5)	A plan for offering hospitals and other entities incentives to apply for licenses to begin offering new inpatient behavioral health services, or to begin operating existing licensed beds that are currently unstaffed, or both.
(6)	Recommendations on the use of the existing Cherry Hospital buildings after patients and operations are relocated to the replacement facility. In developing its findings and recommendations, the Department shall conduct a study that includes development of an inventory and assessment of the condition of every building located on the existing Cherry Hospital campus. The study shall include an examination of the feasibility of using the existing Cherry Hospital facility to provide community‑based and facility‑based behavioral health services, including additional child and adolescent inpatient beds.
(7)	A method by which the Division of Health Service Regulation can begin tracking and separately reporting no later than January 1, 2015, on the inventory of inpatient behavioral health beds for children ages six through 12 and for adolescents over age 12.
(8)	A status update on the implementation of each component of the 2008 Mental Health Commission Workforce Development Plan.
SECTION 2.  The Department shall submit a report to the House of Representatives Appropriations Subcommittee on Health and Human Services, the Senate Appropriations Committee on Health and Human Services, the Joint Legislative Oversight Committee on Health and Human Services, and the Fiscal Research Division by March 1, 2015, that includes all of the following components:
(1)	A comprehensive strategy, developed in collaboration with stakeholders deemed relevant by the Department, to address the dearth of licensed child and adolescent inpatient psychiatric beds throughout the State. The strategy shall:
a.	Ensure that an adequate inventory of child and adolescent beds are available in each LME/MCO catchment area.
b.	Include the development and implementation of a child and adolescent psychiatric bed registry to provide real‑time information on the number of beds available at each licensed inpatient facility in the State.
(2)	Recommendations for meaningful outcome measures to be implemented by State‑operated alcohol and drug abuse treatment centers to assess the impact of inpatient treatment on an individual's substance use following discharge from a State‑operated alcohol and drug abuse treatment center. The recommendations shall include a proposed time line for implementation of these outcome measures.
SECTION 3.  This act is effective when it becomes law.