Amended  IN  Assembly  April 08, 2024
Amended  IN  Assembly  March 18, 2024

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill
No. 2670

Introduced by Assembly Member Holden

February 14, 2024

An act to add Section 5011 to the Welfare and Institutions Code, relating to behavioral health.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


AB 2670, as amended, Holden. Behavioral health: involuntary treatment: information on coverage of services.
Under existing law, the Lanterman-Petris-Short Act, when a person, as a result of a mental health disorder, is a danger to others or to themselves, or gravely disabled, as defined, the person may, upon probable cause, be taken into custody for a period of up to 72 hours for assessment, evaluation, and crisis intervention, or placement for evaluation and treatment in a facility designated by the county for evaluation and treatment and approved by the State Department of Health Care Services. The act sets forth various conditions and procedures for extensions for further treatment, including 14-day or 180-day periods.
This bill would require the department department, by January 1, 2026, to prepare a document, and to post it on the department’s internet website, for the purpose of making available resource information for individuals who are released or discharged by a facility after being detained for evaluation and treatment. Under the bill, the information would relate to potential methods for covering any applicable costs resulting from evaluation and treatment services in a manner that eliminates or reduces any share of cost for the individual.
The bill would require the document to contain certain information, including information on how the individual, if uninsured or underinsured, might be able to have the services be covered by any applicable public or private programs. The bill would require the document to include a blank section that each county would be required to use for adding county-specific resource information, as specified. The bill would require a county county, by July 1, 2026, to post the completed document on the county’s internet website. The bill would require the above-described facilities to provide a copy of that document to a detained individual upon their release or discharge by the facility. By creating new duties for counties relating to the document, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.
Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: YES  

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:


SECTION 1.

 Section 5011 is added to the Welfare and Institutions Code, to read:

5011.
 (a) By January 1, ______, 2026, the State Department of Health Care Services shall prepare a document, and shall post it on the department’s internet website, for the purpose of making available resource information for individuals who are released or discharged by a facility after being detained for evaluation and treatment pursuant to this part. The resource information shall relate to potential methods for covering any applicable costs resulting from evaluation and treatment services in a manner that eliminates or reduces any share of cost for the individual. The department shall prepare the document in consultation with the Department of Managed Health Care and the Department of Insurance.
(b) The resource information contained in the document described in subdivision (a) shall include, but not be limited to, all of the following items:
(1) Information on how the individual might be able to have the services described in subdivision (a) be covered, to the greatest extent possible, by the individual’s health care plan, if any, whether through the Medi-Cal program, the federal Medicare Program, employer-sponsored coverage, Covered California, or any other applicable public or private health care coverage.
(2) Information on how the individual, if uninsured or underinsured, might be able to have the services be covered, to the greatest extent possible, by any applicable public or private programs.
(3) Information on how applicable provisions that address treatment under this part, including, but not limited to, Sections 5150, 5250, and 5300, could affect coverage of the services.
(4) Information listing applicable provisions that address payment or reimbursement for health care services, including, but not limited to, Sections 5012, 5014, and 14021.8, for an individual who has been detained under this part.
(c) The document described in subdivision (a) shall include a blank section that enables a county to fill with additional information pursuant to subdivision (d).
(d) (1) Each county shall use the blank section described in subdivision (c) to add county-specific resource information, as applicable, that facilitates the purpose described in subdivision (a). The county may include information describing county programs that contribute to coverage of the services, contact information for entities that assist individuals described in subdivision (a), or any other information that the county deems relevant and appropriate.
(2) By January 1, ______, July 1, 2026, each county shall make the document publicly available by posting it on the county’s internet website, with the blank section filled as described in paragraph (1).
(e) Upon the availability of the document, as described in paragraph (2) of subdivision (d), a facility that is located in the corresponding county and that provides evaluation and treatment to a detained individual pursuant to this part shall provide a copy of that document to the individual upon their release or discharge by the facility.

SEC. 2.

 If the Commission on State Mandates determines that this act contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement to local agencies and school districts for those costs shall be made pursuant to Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500) of Division 4 of Title 2 of the Government Code.