In recent years, the Michigan Legislature has been working on several bills related to behavioral health. These bills were introduced as a result of advocacy efforts by the MHA supporting the behavioral health section of the MHA Strategic Action Plan. The goal of these bills is to address the challenges that hospitals face when providing care to behavioral health patients in the emergency department (ED).
The legislature has proposed several bills that address different aspects of this issue. Senate Bill (SB) 802, introduced by Sen. Wojno, aims to share information about community-based mental health and substance use disorder services with the Michigan Crisis and Access Line. This bill will help patients in need of these services connect with them more easily.
Another bill, SB 806, introduced by Sen. Hauck, expands the responsibility of conducting pre-admission screenings for patients in the ED. This will help hospitals identify patients who require additional attention and provide them with better care before they are admitted.
A third bill, SB 811, introduced by Sen. Huizenga, expands hospital swing bed eligibility to include inpatient behavioral health patients. This will help ensure that patients receive timely and appropriate care when they need it most.
There is also a pending bill that aims to prohibit arbitrary limitations placed by commercial insurers on the duration of inpatient psychiatric admissions. Advocating for these bills is a top priority for MHA advocacy and policy staff. The MHA is also working with other lawmakers to introduce additional legislation on this issue.
An infographic highlighting the challenges hospitals face when caring for behavioral health patients in the ED and proposed solutions will be shared with lawmakers, utilizing data from the MHA’s weekly behavioral health ED boarding survey. This infographic will help lawmakers understand the issues facing hospitals and how they can be addressed through legislation.
