HB 493 — An Act amending the act of July 19, 1979 (P.L.130, No.48), known as the Health Care Facilities Act, in general provisions, repeals and effective date, providing for acute care mental health bed registry and referrals.

PRINTER'S NO.   482

                     THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA



                         HOUSE BILL
                         No. 493
                                               Session of
                                                 2025

     INTRODUCED BY KAZEEM, GIRAL, SANCHEZ, VENKAT, PIELLI, KHAN,
        HILL-EVANS, CIRESI, FREEMAN, GALLAGHER, FLEMING, OTTEN,
        KENYATTA, GREEN AND WARREN, FEBRUARY 5, 2025

     REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON HEALTH, FEBRUARY 5, 2025


                                    AN ACT
 1   Amending the act of July 19, 1979 (P.L.130, No.48), entitled "An
 2      act relating to health care; prescribing the powers and
 3      duties of the Department of Health; establishing and
 4      providing the powers and duties of the State Health
 5      Coordinating Council, health systems agencies and Health Care
 6      Policy Board in the Department of Health, and State Health
 7      Facility Hearing Board in the Department of Justice;
 8      providing for certification of need of health care providers
 9      and prescribing penalties," in general provisions, repeals
10      and effective date, providing for acute care mental health
11      bed registry and referrals.
12      The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
13   hereby enacts as follows:
14      Section 1.    The act of July 19, 1979 (P.L.130, No.48), known
15   as the Health Care Facilities Act, is amended by adding a
16   section to read:
17   Section 901.1.    Acute care mental health bed registry and
18               referrals.
19      (a)   The department shall develop and administer a web-based
20   acute care mental health bed registry to facilitate the
21   temporary hospitalization and treatment of individuals who meet
22   the criteria for inpatient examination and treatment under
 1   Article II or III of the act of July 9, 1976 (P.L.817, No.143),
 2   known as the "Mental Health Procedures Act."
 3      (b)   The department shall make the bed registry accessible to
 4   health care professionals and their designees who are treating
 5   patients in need of mental health inpatient examination and
 6   treatment and to participating facilities.
 7      (c)   The department shall design the bed registry to collect,
 8   aggregate and display the information under subsection (d).
 9      (d)   The bed registry shall include all of the following
10   information:
11            (1)   General descriptive information for each
12      participating facility, including contact information and the
13      type of treatment and services available at each
14      participating facility.
15            (2)   Information on the number of acute care mental
16      health beds available at each participating facility, which
17      information shall be updated every eight hours.
18            (3)   For each available acute care mental health bed at a
19      participating facility, the type of patient that may be
20      admitted.
21            (4)   The level of security provided at each participating
22      facility.
23            (5)   Any other information that may assist a health care
24      professional in identifying an appropriate acute care mental
25      health bed for an individual in need of inpatient examination
26      and treatment.
27      (e)   The department shall design the bed registry to allow
28   health care professionals and their designees to search the bed
29   registry for an appropriate acute care mental health bed for an
30   individual in need of inpatient examination or treatment.

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 1      (f)     To be eligible to access the bed registry, a facility
 2   must:
 3            (1)   submit information specified under subsection (d) to
 4      the department for inclusion in the bed registry; and
 5            (2)   permit the facility's contact information to be
 6      monitored and accessed at any time in accordance with the
 7      department's regulations promulgated under subsection (i).
 8      (g)     The department may contract with a third party to
 9   develop and administer the bed registry.
10      (h)     The department shall make information regarding the bed
11   registry accessible to the public but with a limited view for
12   the purpose of protecting confidential personal or medical
13   information. The information regarding the bed registry that is
14   available on a publicly accessible Internet website shall
15   include:
16            (1)   Descriptive information relating to the location and
17      contact information for each participating facility.
18            (2)   The number of available beds and types of services
19      available at each participating facility.
20            (3)   The number of individuals on a waiting list to
21      receive services.
22            (4)   The estimated days until the next bed is available.
23            (5)   The time and date that the bed registry was last
24      updated.
25      (i)     The department shall promulgate regulations necessary to
26   implement this section.
27      (j)     As used in this section, the following words and phrases
28   shall have the meanings given to them in this subsection unless
29   the context clearly indicates otherwise:
30      "Acute care mental health bed."      A bed located at a mental

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 1   health facility that provides acute care mental health services.
 2      "Bed registry."    The acute care mental health bed registry
 3   established under this section.
 4      "Facility."    A mental health facility.
 5      "Health care professional."     An individual licensed as a
 6   physician, osteopath, physician assistant or certified
 7   registered nurse practitioner.
 8      "Mental health facility."     A distinct part of a general
 9   hospital licensed by the department under this act or a facility
10   that exclusively cares for the mentally ill and is licensed by
11   the Department of Human Services under the "Mental Health
12   Procedures Act" or Article X of the act of June 13, 1967
13   (P.L.31, No.21), known as the "Human Services Code," that
14   provides inpatient mental health examination and treatment. The
15   term does not include the emergency department of a general
16   hospital.
17      "Participating facility."     A facility that satisfies the
18   conditions under subsection (f).
19      Section 2.    Within 10 days of the development of the bed
20   registry under section 901.1 of the act, the Department of
21   Health shall transmit notice of the development of the bed
22   registry to the Legislative Reference Bureau for publication in
23   the next available issue of the Pennsylvania Bulletin.
24      Section 3.    This act shall take effect as follows:
25          (1)   The following shall take effect immediately:
26                The addition of section 901.1(h) of the act.
27                This section.
28          (2)   The remainder of this act shall take effect 60 days
29      after the date of the publication of the notice under section
30      2 of this act.

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