| 21 | 6 | | relating to general provisions related to governing and regulation of mental health, so as to2 |
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| 22 | 7 | | statutorily require the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities to3 |
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| 23 | 8 | | create, operate, and maintain the Georgia Crisis and Access Line; to provide for definitions;4 |
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| 24 | 9 | | to provide certain requirements and functionality of the access line; to provide for behavioral5 |
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| 25 | 10 | | health care provider data; to require that the access line support calls with sufficient access6 |
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| 26 | 11 | | to behavioral health services and supports; to require any state-operated registry of available7 |
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| 27 | 12 | | inpatient psychiatric beds, crisis residential beds, or substance use disorder beds to report8 |
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| 28 | 13 | | data for purposes of the access line; to provide for related matters; to repeal conflicting laws;9 |
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| 29 | 14 | | and for other purposes.10 |
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| 30 | 15 | | BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA:11 |
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| 31 | 16 | | SECTION 1.12 |
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| 32 | 17 | | Article 1 of Chapter 1 of Title 37 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to13 |
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| 33 | 18 | | general provisions related to governing and regulation of mental health, is amended by14 |
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| 34 | 19 | | adding a new Code section to read as follows:15 |
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| 39 | 22 | | - 2 - |
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| 40 | 23 | | (1) 'Access line' means the Georgia Crisis and Access Line maintained and operated18 |
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| 41 | 24 | | pursuant to this Code section.19 |
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| 42 | 25 | | (2) 'Addictive disease' has the same meaning as in Code Section 37-1-1.20 |
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| 43 | 26 | | (3) 'Mental health or substance use disorder' means a mental illness or addictive disease.21 |
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| 44 | 27 | | (4) 'Mental illness' has the same meaning as in Code Section 37-1-1.22 |
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| 45 | 28 | | (b) Subject to appropriations, the department shall continue to maintain, operate, and make23 |
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| 46 | 29 | | available to the public a behavioral health telephone access line known as the Georgia24 |
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| 47 | 30 | | Crisis and Access Line. The department may contract for the design, operation, and25 |
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| 48 | 31 | | maintenance of the access line.26 |
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| 49 | 32 | | (c) The access line shall be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The access line27 |
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| 50 | 33 | | shall do all of the following:28 |
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| 51 | 34 | | (1) Have the ability to access information related to the availability of services, including29 |
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| 52 | 35 | | near real-time access to any registry of available inpatient psychiatric beds, crisis30 |
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| 53 | 36 | | residential beds, and substance use disorder beds; provided, however, that individuals31 |
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| 54 | 37 | | seeking behavioral health care shall be informed that any such registry data provided to32 |
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| 55 | 38 | | an individual may not be accurate and that bed availability is not guaranteed;33 |
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| 56 | 39 | | (2) Refer and connect individuals requiring mental health or substance use disorder34 |
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| 57 | 40 | | services to mental health professionals, including, but not limited to, community mental35 |
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| 58 | 41 | | health services programs and Medicaid providers, using telecommunications and digital36 |
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| 59 | 42 | | communications methods commonly in use, such as a telephone call, text message,37 |
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| 60 | 43 | | electronic mail, and internet chat;38 |
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| 61 | 44 | | (3) Implement practices to comply with all applicable laws respecting individual and39 |
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| 62 | 45 | | patient privacy;40 |
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| 63 | 46 | | (4) Implement practices to ensure the security of the data collected, in line with industry41 |
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| 66 | 48 | | - 3 - |
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| 67 | 49 | | (5) Notwithstanding paragraphs (3) and (4) of this subsection, collect data and utilize43 |
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| 68 | 50 | | data analytics to track the success of the access line's operations and identify trends in44 |
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| 69 | 51 | | service needs and outcomes; and45 |
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| 70 | 52 | | (6) Develop and utilize a customer relationship management infrastructure for the access46 |
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| 71 | 53 | | line to track, monitor, assign, follow up, and report on access line operations. The47 |
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| 72 | 54 | | department shall have operational oversight for, including access to and utilization of, the48 |
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| 73 | 55 | | customer relationship management infrastructure. Community mental health services49 |
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| 74 | 56 | | programs and Medicaid providers shall be authorized to access the customer relationship50 |
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| 75 | 57 | | management infrastructure.51 |
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| 76 | 58 | | (d) The Georgia Board of Health Care Workforce shall provide behavioral health care52 |
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| 77 | 59 | | provider data to the department. The department may use such data to leverage existing53 |
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| 78 | 60 | | databases and other sources of information identifying behavioral health care providers54 |
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| 79 | 61 | | providing mental health or substance use disorder treatment and rehabilitation services and55 |
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| 80 | 62 | | to utilize the most current provider information available.56 |
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| 81 | 63 | | (e) The access line shall be able to support calls with sufficient access to behavioral health57 |
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| 82 | 64 | | services and supports in accordance with this title.58 |
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| 83 | 65 | | (f) A state-operated registry of available inpatient psychiatric beds, crisis residential beds,59 |
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| 84 | 66 | | or substance use disorder beds shall report all data collected for such registry to the60 |
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| 85 | 67 | | department or the entity operating or maintaining the access line under contract with the61 |
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| 86 | 68 | | department."62 |
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| 87 | 69 | | SECTION 2.63 |
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| 88 | 70 | | All laws and parts of laws in conflict with this Act are repealed.64 |
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