June 12, 2018, Introduced by Rep. Whiteford and referred to the Committee on Health Policy.
A bill to amend 1974 PA 258, entitled
"Mental health code,"
(MCL 330.1001 to 330.2106) by adding section 165.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:
Sec. 165. (1) The department shall establish and make
available to the public the Michigan CARES (Community, Access,
Resources, Education, and Safety) hotline. This hotline shall be a
telephone referral system that connects individuals experiencing a
mental health crisis to a local mental health provider using
telecommunications and digital communications methods commonly in
use, such as a telephone call, text, electronic mail, and internet
chat. The hotline shall also provide the ability to evaluate
callers and direct the callers to the appropriate level of care
support, including the ability to connect individuals who need
substance use disorder treatment and rehabilitation services to an
appropriate provider and the ability to connect to suicide
prevention resources when necessary.
(2) The department shall contract for the design, operation,
and maintenance of the Michigan CARES hotline. The Michigan CARES
hotline shall be available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Individuals operating or maintaining the Michigan CARES hotline
shall do all of the following:
(a) Have the ability to access information related to the
availability of services, including real-time access to any
registry of available inpatient psychiatric beds.
(b) Have the ability to leverage telehealth resources.
(c) Implement practices to comply with all applicable laws
respecting individual and patient privacy.
(d) Implement practices to ensure the security of the data
collected, in line with industry best practices and in compliance
with all applicable laws.
(e) Notwithstanding provisions in subdivisions (c) and (d),
collect data and utilize data analytics to track the success of the
Michigan CARES hotline's operations and identify trends in service
needs and outcomes.
(3) The department shall work with the department of licensing
and regulatory affairs and the contractor described in subsection
(2) to leverage existing databases and other sources of information
identifying providers of mental health services and substance use
disorder treatment and rehabilitation services.
(4) The department of licensing and regulatory affairs shall
provide licensing information for appropriate providers of mental
health and substance use disorder services to the contractor
described in subsection (2) to support the goals of the Michigan
CARES hotline. The department and the department of licensing and
regulatory affairs shall continue to provide the most current
licensing information to the contractor described in subsection
(2).
(5) The entity under contract as required in subsection (2)
shall utilize technology capable of interfacing with licensing
information at the department of licensing and regulatory affairs
so that the contractor required under subsection (2) utilizes the
most current provider information available.
Enacting section 1. This amendatory act takes effect 90 days
after the date it is enacted into law.