by
<a href="mailto:sharons@awcnet.org">Sharon Swanson</a>, <a href="mailto:brandona@awcnet.org">Brandon Anderson</a> | Apr 22, 2019
<a href="https://app.leg.wa.gov/billsummary?BillNumber=1394&Initiative=false&Year=2019" target="_blank"><strong>2SHB 1394</strong></a>, legislation that establishes community based residential treatment facilities for behavioral health patients, unanimously passed the House last week after being amended on the floor.
HB 1394, legislation that establishes community based residential treatment facilities for behavioral health patients, unanimously passed the House last week after being amended on the floor.
This bill establishes a significant shift in how behavioral health care is delivered by shifting capacity away from state-run hospitals into smaller community facilities certified by the state. This allows patients to be treated closer to their homes.
The highlights of HB 1394 include:
- Establishing a pilot program for mental health drop-in centers and requiring the Health Care Authority to submit reports on results to the Governor and the appropriate committees of the Legislature by December 1, 2020 and December 1, 2021.
- Directing the Health Care Authority to assess the capacity of hospitals and evaluation and treatment facilities to become credentialed to provide long-term mental health placements, and to contract with those hospitals and evaluation and treatment facilities that choose to provide such services.
- Suspending certificate of need requirements for certain hospitals that are either adding new psychiatric beds, changing the use of current beds to psychiatric uses, or constructing new psychiatric hospitals.
The Senate must now vote to adopt the changes made in the House before final passage of the legislation. AWC supports HB 1394 as amended.