HLS 16RS-923 ORIGINAL
2016 Regular Session
HOUSE BILL NO. 763
BY REPRESENTATIVE CARPENTER
HUMAN SERVICES: Authorizes and provides for mental health emergency room
extensions
1 AN ACT
2To enact R.S. 28:931 and 932, relative to healthcare services for persons experiencing
3 mental health or behavioral health crises; to authorize establishment of facilities to
4 be known as mental health emergency room extensions; to provide for powers of
5 human services districts and authorities with respect to such facilities; to provide for
6 the geographic location of such facilities; to condition establishment of any such
7 facility upon appropriation of funds; and to provide for related matters.
8Be it enacted by the Legislature of Louisiana:
9 Section 1. R.S. 28:931 and 932 are hereby enacted to read as follows:
10 §931. Definitions; purposes
11 A. As used in this Part, "mental health emergency room extension" and
12 "MHERE" mean a type of crisis receiving center in which a staff of mental health
13 and behavioral health specialists provide a high level of screening and assessment
14 to people experiencing mental health or behavioral health crises.
15 B. The purposes of a mental health emergency room extension include,
16 without limitation, all of the following:
17 (1) To properly connect patients experiencing mental health or behavioral
18 health crises to either acute or ongoing community-based treatment.
19 (2) To diminish the need in a community for recurrent crisis services for
20 persons suffering from mental illness, substance abuse, or both conditions.
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CODING: Words in struck through type are deletions from existing law; words underscored
are additions. HLS 16RS-923 ORIGINAL
HB NO. 763
1 (3) To serve as a crisis continuum component that assists law enforcement
2 officers, hospital emergency departments, and jails by treating persons with mental
3 health and behavioral health conditions in an appropriate setting.
4 §932. Mental health emergency room extensions; establishment and operation;
5 duties of human services districts and authorities
6 A. Human services districts and authorities are hereby authorized to establish
7 mental health emergency room extensions, referred to individually hereafter in this
8 Part as "an MHERE", in accordance with the provisions of this Section.
9 B. Subject to appropriation for this purpose, a human services district or
10 authority may establish and operate an MHERE in any parish that meets all of the
11 following criteria:
12 (1) The parish has a population of more than four hundred forty thousand
13 according to the latest federal decennial census.
14 (2) The parish experienced the closure of a hospital provided for in R.S.
15 17:1519.2 that had been operated by the Health Care Services Division of the LSU
16 Health Sciences Center-New Orleans.
17 Section 2.(A) The Louisiana State Law Institute is hereby directed to designate R.S.
1828:911 through 920 as Part I of Chapter 21 of Title 28 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes of
191950, and to entitle the Part "Human Services Districts and Authorities: General
20Provisions".
21 (B) The Louisiana State Law Institute is hereby directed to designate R.S. 28:931
22and 932, as enacted by Section 1 of this Act, as Part II of Chapter 21 of Title 28 of the
23Louisiana Revised Statutes of 1950, and to entitle the Part "Mental Health Emergency Room
24Extensions".
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CODING: Words in struck through type are deletions from existing law; words underscored
are additions. HLS 16RS-923 ORIGINAL
HB NO. 763
DIGEST
The digest printed below was prepared by House Legislative Services. It constitutes no part
of the legislative instrument. The keyword, one-liner, abstract, and digest do not constitute
part of the law or proof or indicia of legislative intent. [R.S. 1:13(B) and 24:177(E)]
HB 763 Original 2016 Regular Session Carpenter
Abstract: Authorizes establishment of mental health emergency room extensions by human
services districts and authorities.
Proposed law defines "mental health emergency room extension" and "MHERE" as a type
of crisis receiving center in which a staff of mental health and behavioral health specialists
provide a high level of screening and assessment to people experiencing mental health or
behavioral health crises. Provides that the purposes of a mental health emergency room
extension include, without limitation, all of the following:
(1)To properly connect patients experiencing mental health or behavioral health crises
to either acute or ongoing community-based treatment.
(2)To diminish the need in a community for recurrent crisis services for persons
suffering from mental illness, substance abuse, or both conditions.
(3)To serve as a crisis continuum component that assists law enforcement officers,
hospital emergency departments, and jails by treating persons with mental health and
behavioral health conditions in an appropriate setting.
Proposed law authorizes human services districts and authorities to establish MHEREs in
accordance with the provisions of proposed law. Provides that subject to appropriation
therefor, a human services district or authority may establish and operate an MHERE in any
parish that meets all of the following criteria:
(1)The parish has a population of more than 440,000 according to the latest federal
decennial census.
(2)The parish experienced the closure of a hospital that had been operated by the LSU
Health Care Services Division.
(Adds R.S. 28:931 and 932)
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CODING: Words in struck through type are deletions from existing law; words underscored
are additions.