HLS 16RS-1350 ORIGINAL
2016 Regular Session
HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOL UTION NO. 112
BY REPRESENTATIVE CARPENTER
MENTAL HEALTH: Requests a study of systems for providing appropriate mental health
and behavioral health treatment in the capital region
1 A CONCURRENT RESOL UTION
2To urge and request the Capital Area Human Services District to conduct a study of systems
3 for providing appropriate mental health and behavioral health treatment in the capital
4 region as an alternative to hospitalization or detention in jails or other correctional
5 facilities of persons in mental health or behavioral health crisis, and to report
6 findings of the study to the Capital Region Legislative Delegation and the legislative
7 committees on health and welfare.
8 WHEREAS, access to health care, including mental health and behavioral health
9services, is a major public health concern throughout Louisiana; and
10 WHEREAS, this public health concern is very prominent in the capital region, as the
11Earl K. Long Medical Center, which was the state-owned public hospital in Baton Rouge,
12closed in 2013, and the city's only remaining centrally located hospital closed its emergency
13department in 2015 due to its inability to cover the cost of treating the overwhelming number
14of uninsured patients that it began to see in the aftermath of the closure of Earl K. Long; and
15 WHEREAS, as evidenced by the final passage of House Bill No. 1493 of the 2010
16Regular Session and final adoption and concurrence of House Concurrent Resolution No.
17129 and Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 21 of the 2015 Regular Session, the legislature
18has expressed serious concern regarding the issue of access to health care in the capital
19region; and
20 WHEREAS, this region was adversely affected by the 2013 closure of Baton Rouge's
21mental health emergency room extension, referred to hereafter as the MHERE, which had
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HCR NO. 112
1operated as part of the Earl K. Long Medical Center and kept patients with mental illness
2from congesting hospital emergency departments and jails; and
3 WHEREAS, the MHERE was a type of crisis receiving center in which a staff of
4mental health and behavioral health specialists provided a high level of screening and
5assessment to people experiencing mental health or behavioral health crises; and
6 WHEREAS, the MHERE functioned to connect patients experiencing mental health
7or behavioral health crises to either acute or ongoing community-based treatment;
8diminished the need in the city and region for recurrent crisis services for persons suffering
9from mental illness, substance abuse, or both conditions; and served as a crisis continuum
10component that assisted law enforcement officers, hospital emergency departments, and jails
11by treating persons with mental health and behavioral health conditions in an appropriate
12setting; and
13 WHEREAS, since the closure of the Baton Rouge MHERE, public officials,
14community leaders, and public health advocates throughout the capital region have
15increasingly expressed concerns over the inadequacy of resources available for treatment of
16persons with mental health and behavioral health conditions, with these concerns relating
17equally to the well-being of persons whose critical health needs are going unmet and to the
18mounting financial burdens that hospitals and detention facilities have incurred through
19confining these persons in such costly settings.
20 THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby
21urge and request the Capital Area Human Services District to conduct a study of systems for
22providing appropriate mental health and behavioral health treatment in the capital region as
23an alternative to hospitalization or detention in jails or other correctional facilities of persons
24in mental health or behavioral health crisis.
25 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the study and its resulting report shall address,
26without limitation, the following:
27 (1) Whether creation and maintenance of a system for providing appropriate mental
28health and behavioral health treatment in the capital region could be accomplished within
29the limits of the existing financial resources and healthcare infrastructure of the region.
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HCR NO. 112
1 (2) The cost of creating and implementing a system for providing appropriate mental
2health and behavioral health treatment in the capital region if such a system cannot be
3created and maintained within the limits of the existing financial resources and healthcare
4infrastructure of the region.
5 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that in developing the study, the district may engage
6and obtain information and commentary from public officials, community leaders, public
7health advocates, and stakeholder groups at the discretion of the executive director of the
8district.
9 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the district shall submit a written report of
10findings of the study required by this Resolution to the members of the Capital Region
11Legislative Delegation, the House Committee on Health and Welfare, and the Senate
12Committee on Health and Welfare no later than sixty days prior to the convening of the 2017
13Regular Session of the Legislature of Louisiana.
14 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to the
15executive director of the Capital Area Human Services District.
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)]
HCR 112 Original 2016 Regular Session Carpenter
Urges and requests the Capital Area Human Services District to conduct a study of systems
for providing appropriate mental health and behavioral health treatment in the capital region
as an alternative to hospitalization or detention in jails or other correctional facilities of
persons in mental health or behavioral health crisis.
Requires the district to submit a written report of findings of the study to the members of the
Capital Region Legislative Delegation and the legislative committees on health and welfare
no later than 60 days prior to the convening of the 2017 R.S.
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