MENTAL HEALTH FACILITIES; REPORTING DEATHS S.B. 813:
SUMMARY AS ENACTED
Senate Bill 813 (as enacted) PUBLIC ACT 318 of 2020
Senate Committee: Health Policy and Human Services
House Committee: Health Policy
Ways and Means
CONTENT
The bill amends the Mental Health Code to do the following:
-- Require the Department to investigate all deaths reported by a psychiatric hospital or psychiatric unit that are the result of suicide or where the cause of death is reported as unknown.[1]
-- Require a report provided by the Department to include, if known, causes of deaths of mental health care recipients where death occurred within 48 hours of discharge.
-- Require the report to include information indicating whether or not the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) has initiated or is in the process of an investigation described above and, if known, the finding of the investigation.
The bill will take effect on March 24, 2021.
Investigation
The bill requires the Department to investigate all deaths reported by a psychiatric hospital or psychiatric unit that are the result of suicide or where the cause of death is reported as unknown.
Report
The Code requires the Department to provide to the members of the Michigan Senate and Michigan House of Representatives standing committees and appropriations subcommittees with legislative oversight of mental health issues an annual statistical report summarizing all deaths and causes of deaths, if known, of mental health care recipients that have been reported to the Department and all deaths that have occurred in State facilities.
Under the bill, the deaths of mental health care recipients reported to the Department must include deaths that occurred within 48 hours after discharge.
Additionally, the Department must include in its statistical report information indicating whether or not it has initiated an investigation or is in the process of an investigation as required under the bill regarding the recipient's death and, if known, the findings of the investigation.
MCL 330.1720 et al. Legislative Analyst: Stephen Jackson
FISCAL IMPACT
The bill will have an indeterminant minor cost on the Department of Health and Human Services resulting from additional staff time investment to complete the report and staff training. These costs may be borne by existing departmental resources.
The Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs may experience an increase in administrative and staffing costs because of investigations necessitated by the bill. The magnitude of these costs is unknown at this time and will depend upon the number of investigations conducted. However, these costs likely will be partially offset by existing appropriations and resources.
Fiscal Analyst: Ellyn Ackerman
Elizabeth Raczkowski
This analysis was prepared by nonpartisan Senate staff for use by the Senate in its deliberations and does not constitute an official statement of legislative intent.
[1] Generally, references to the "Department" in the Mental Health Code refer to the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS); however, the Bureau of Community and Health Systems, which prepares the Statistical Report of Psychiatric Inpatient Deaths, is housed within the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA). The Bureau was transferred from the Department of Community Health (DCH) to LARA when the DCH was merged with the Department of Human Services to form the DHHS in 2015. The report does not include data from State-operated hospitals, as those data are available from the DHHS.