Substitute For

HOUSE BILL NO. 4051

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) Subject to appropriation, the department shall establish and make available to the public the Michigan CARES (Community, Access, Resources, Education, and Safety) hotline.

(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. An individual 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 near real-time access to any registry of available inpatient psychiatric beds.

(b) Refer and connect individuals requiring mental health or substance use disorder services to mental health professionals, using telecommunications and digital communications methods commonly in use, such as a telephone call, text, electronic mail, and internet chat.

(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 mental health professionals providing mental health services and providers of substance use disorder treatment and rehabilitation services and to utilize the most current provider information available.

(4) An individual operating or maintaining the Michigan CARES hotline under contract with the department has the same immunity provided for a governmental employee under section 7 of 1964 PA 170, MCL 691.1407.

Enacting section 1. This amendatory act takes effect 90 days after the date it is enacted into law.