BILL REQ. #:  H-1445.1 

Read first time 02/03/09.   Referred to Committee on Health Care & Wellness.

     AN ACT Relating to identifying mental health professionals authorized to work with persons with serious mental illnesses; and amending RCW 71.05.020.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

Sec. 1   RCW 71.05.020 and 2008 c 156 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:
     The definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter unless the context clearly requires otherwise.
     (1) "Admission" or "admit" means a decision by a physician or psychiatric advanced registered nurse practitioner that a person should be examined or treated as a patient in a hospital;
     (2) "Antipsychotic medications" means that class of drugs primarily used to treat serious manifestations of mental illness associated with thought disorders, which includes, but is not limited to atypical antipsychotic medications;
     (3) "Attending staff" means any person on the staff of a public or private agency having responsibility for the care and treatment of a patient;
     (4) "Commitment" means the determination by a court that a person should be detained for a period of either evaluation or treatment, or both, in an inpatient or a less restrictive setting;
     (5) "Conditional release" means a revocable modification of a commitment, which may be revoked upon violation of any of its terms;
     (6) "Crisis stabilization unit" means a short-term facility or a portion of a facility licensed by the department of health and certified by the department of social and health services under RCW 71.24.035, such as an evaluation and treatment facility or a hospital, which has been designed to assess, diagnose, and treat individuals experiencing an acute crisis without the use of long-term hospitalization;
     (7) "Custody" means involuntary detention under the provisions of this chapter or chapter 10.77 RCW, uninterrupted by any period of unconditional release from commitment from a facility providing involuntary care and treatment;
     (8) "Department" means the department of social and health services;
     (9) "Designated chemical dependency specialist" means a person designated by the county alcoholism and other drug addiction program coordinator designated under RCW 70.96A.310 to perform the commitment duties described in chapters 70.96A and 70.96B RCW;
     (10) "Designated crisis responder" means a mental health professional appointed by the county or the regional support network to perform the duties specified in this chapter;
     (11) "Designated mental health professional" means a mental health professional designated by the county or other authority authorized in rule to perform the duties specified in this chapter;
     (12) "Detention" or "detain" means the lawful confinement of a person, under the provisions of this chapter;
     (13) "Developmental disabilities professional" means a person who has specialized training and three years of experience in directly treating or working with persons with developmental disabilities and is a psychiatrist, psychologist, psychiatric advanced registered nurse practitioner, or social worker, and such other developmental disabilities professionals as may be defined by rules adopted by the secretary;
     (14) "Developmental disability" means that condition defined in RCW 71A.10.020(3);
     (15) "Discharge" means the termination of hospital medical authority. The commitment may remain in place, be terminated, or be amended by court order;
     (16) "Evaluation and treatment facility" means any facility which can provide directly, or by direct arrangement with other public or private agencies, emergency evaluation and treatment, outpatient care, and timely and appropriate inpatient care to persons suffering from a mental disorder, and which is certified as such by the department. A physically separate and separately operated portion of a state hospital may be designated as an evaluation and treatment facility. A facility which is part of, or operated by, the department or any federal agency will not require certification. No correctional institution or facility, or jail, shall be an evaluation and treatment facility within the meaning of this chapter;
     (17) "Gravely disabled" means a condition in which a person, as a result of a mental disorder: (a) Is in danger of serious physical harm resulting from a failure to provide for his or her essential human needs of health or safety; or (b) manifests severe deterioration in routine functioning evidenced by repeated and escalating loss of cognitive or volitional control over his or her actions and is not receiving such care as is essential for his or her health or safety;
     (18) "Habilitative services" means those services provided by program personnel to assist persons in acquiring and maintaining life skills and in raising their levels of physical, mental, social, and vocational functioning. Habilitative services include education, training for employment, and therapy. The habilitative process shall be undertaken with recognition of the risk to the public safety presented by the person being assisted as manifested by prior charged criminal conduct;
     (19) "History of one or more violent acts" refers to the period of time ten years prior to the filing of a petition under this chapter, excluding any time spent, but not any violent acts committed, in a mental health facility or in confinement as a result of a criminal conviction;
     (20) "Imminent" means the state or condition of being likely to occur at any moment or near at hand, rather than distant or remote;
     (21) "Individualized service plan" means a plan prepared by a developmental disabilities professional with other professionals as a team, for a person with developmental disabilities, which shall state:
     (a) The nature of the person's specific problems, prior charged criminal behavior, and habilitation needs;
     (b) The conditions and strategies necessary to achieve the purposes of habilitation;
     (c) The intermediate and long-range goals of the habilitation program, with a projected timetable for the attainment;
     (d) The rationale for using this plan of habilitation to achieve those intermediate and long-range goals;
     (e) The staff responsible for carrying out the plan;
     (f) Where relevant in light of past criminal behavior and due consideration for public safety, the criteria for proposed movement to less-restrictive settings, criteria for proposed eventual discharge or release, and a projected possible date for discharge or release; and
     (g) The type of residence immediately anticipated for the person and possible future types of residences;
     (22) "Judicial commitment" means a commitment by a court pursuant to the provisions of this chapter;
     (23) "Likelihood of serious harm" means:
     (a) A substantial risk that: (i) Physical harm will be inflicted by a person upon his or her own person, as evidenced by threats or attempts to commit suicide or inflict physical harm on oneself; (ii) physical harm will be inflicted by a person upon another, as evidenced by behavior which has caused such harm or which places another person or persons in reasonable fear of sustaining such harm; or (iii) physical harm will be inflicted by a person upon the property of others, as evidenced by behavior which has caused substantial loss or damage to the property of others; or
     (b) The person has threatened the physical safety of another and has a history of one or more violent acts;
     (24) "Mental disorder" means any organic, mental, or emotional impairment which has substantial adverse effects on a person's cognitive or volitional functions;
     (25) "Mental health professional" means a psychiatrist, psychologist, psychiatric nurse, ((or)) social worker, licensed mental health counselor, or marriage and family therapist, and such other mental health professionals as may be defined by rules adopted by the secretary pursuant to the provisions of this chapter;
     (26) "Peace officer" means a law enforcement official of a public agency or governmental unit, and includes persons specifically given peace officer powers by any state law, local ordinance, or judicial order of appointment;
     (27) "Private agency" means any person, partnership, corporation, or association that is not a public agency, whether or not financed in whole or in part by public funds, which constitutes an evaluation and treatment facility or private institution, or hospital, which is conducted for, or includes a department or ward conducted for, the care and treatment of persons who are mentally ill;
     (28) "Professional person" means a mental health professional and shall also mean a physician, psychiatric advanced registered nurse practitioner, registered nurse, and such others as may be defined by rules adopted by the secretary pursuant to the provisions of this chapter;
     (29) "Psychiatric advanced registered nurse practitioner" means a person who is licensed as an advanced registered nurse practitioner pursuant to chapter 18.79 RCW; and who is board certified in advanced practice psychiatric and mental health nursing;
     (30) "Psychiatrist" means a person having a license as a physician and surgeon in this state who has in addition completed three years of graduate training in psychiatry in a program approved by the American medical association or the American osteopathic association and is certified or eligible to be certified by the American board of psychiatry and neurology;
     (31) "Psychologist" means a person who has been licensed as a psychologist pursuant to chapter 18.83 RCW;
     (32) "Public agency" means any evaluation and treatment facility or institution, or hospital which is conducted for, or includes a department or ward conducted for, the care and treatment of persons with mental illness, if the agency is operated directly by, federal, state, county, or municipal government, or a combination of such governments;
     (33) "Registration records" include all the records of the department, regional support networks, treatment facilities, and other persons providing services to the department, county departments, or facilities which identify persons who are receiving or who at any time have received services for mental illness;
     (34) "Release" means legal termination of the commitment under the provisions of this chapter;
     (35) "Resource management services" has the meaning given in chapter 71.24 RCW;
     (36) "Secretary" means the secretary of the department of social and health services, or his or her designee;
     (37) "Social worker" means a person with a master's or further advanced degree from an accredited school of social work or a degree deemed equivalent under rules adopted by the secretary;
     (38) "Treatment records" include registration and all other records concerning persons who are receiving or who at any time have received services for mental illness, which are maintained by the department, by regional support networks and their staffs, and by treatment facilities. Treatment records include mental health information contained in a medical bill including but not limited to mental health drugs, a mental health diagnosis, provider name, and dates of service stemming from a medical service. Treatment records do not include notes or records maintained for personal use by a person providing treatment services for the department, regional support networks, or a treatment facility if the notes or records are not available to others;
     (39) "Violent act" means behavior that resulted in homicide, attempted suicide, nonfatal injuries, or substantial damage to property.