Page 5 - Healthcare News July/August 2022

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DAD IS
TRAILING OFF IN THE MIDDLE
OF HIS SENTENCES.
JULY/AUGUST 2022 WWW.HEALTHCARENEWS.COM 5
what insurances need to cover.
• It requires the state to create regulations that will require all acute-care
hospitals licensed to provide, or arrange for, licensed mental-health profes- sionals during all operating hours of an Emergency Department or a satellite emergency facility “to evaluate and stabilize a person admitted with a mental- health presentation” and to refer such individuals for appropriate treatment or inpatient admission.
• It also addresses equitable payment for behavioral-health services to pro- viders as well as requires detailed reporting of services provided.
• It aims to reduce waiting times in ERs and other settings for those in need of inpatient psychiatric services as well those needing a more stepped-down level of care. It calls for the establishment of online portals through which healthcare providers can access what behavioral-health services as well as beds are available in the state for those waiting for such placement.
• It also calls for the establishment of an interagency review team to col- laborate on complex cases where there is a need for urgent action to address the lack of consensus or resolution in placement of an under-22 individual who is disabled or has special needs.
• It establishes an Office of Behavioral Health Promotion within the Execu- tive Office of Health and Human Services whose duties will include assess-
ing the behavioral-health needs of veterans and municipal and state police, firefighters, and public-safety personnel, and establishing a statewide evidence- based or evidence-informed education and awareness initiative.
• The initiative’s duties include identifying best practices for preventing suicide and undertaking other steps such as creating a student stakeholder ad- visory committee to work in collaboration with the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to develop and implement school-based programs that promote student mental health and well-being.
• Other issues address changes to the board of registration for social workers, the development of standards to ensure that expulsion and suspension of a
“High-quality, affordable,
and accessible mental
and behavioral health
is a right that should be
afforded to any citizen
of the Commonwealth
regardless of where they
live, socio-economic status, race, ethnicity, gender, or any other factors that may impact their ability to access it.”
child in early education or care are “limited to extraordinary circumstances,” and allowing the state’s insurance commissioner to impose a penalty to any eligible carrier in violation of state and federal parity laws around substance use and mental-health conditions.
• It also requires that the state provide benefits on a non-discriminatory basis for children and adolescents under the age of 19, insured through Medicaid, for the diagnosis and treatment of mental, behavioral, emotional, or substance-use disorders that “substantially interfere with or substantially limit the functioning and social interactions of such a child or adolescent.” It also provides for mental health screenings for children in foster care.
Some of the act’s provisions have been already underway in Massachusetts, but elements of the legislation provided further clarification of how they will be enacted, possibly funded and who will provide oversight, Pinero noted.
This includes the designation of at least one 988 crisis hotline center to operate 24/7 to provide crisis-intervention services and crisis-care coordination to individuals accessing the federally designated 988 suicide-prevention and behavioral-health crisis hotline. The act also calls for community behavioral- health centers that can be part of this care coordination and response, as well as community crisis-stabilization programs that may provide an alternative to hospitalization by providing individualized and focused treatment in a more
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SEN. ADAMGOMEZ
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