SSB 5187 -
By Committee on Health & Human Services Appropriations & Oversight
ADOPTED 04/09/2011
Strike everything after the enacting clause and insert the following:
"Sec. 1 RCW 71.34.375 and 2003 c 107 s 1 are each amended to read
as follows:
(1) ((The)) An evaluation and treatment facility or an inpatient
facility licensed under chapter 70.41, 71.12, or 72.23 RCW is required
to promptly provide written and verbal notice of all statutorily
available treatment options contained in this chapter to every parent
or guardian of a minor child when the parent or guardian ((seeks to
have)) is seeking mental health treatment for his or her minor child
((treated at an evaluation and treatment facility)). The notice need
not be given more than once if written and verbal notice has already
been provided and documented by the facility.
(2) The notice must contain the following information and the
provision of notice must be documented by the evaluation and treatment
facility or the inpatient facility licensed under chapter 70.41, 71.12,
or 72.23 RCW and accompanied by a signed acknowledgment of receipt by
the parent or guardian:
(a) All current statutorily available treatment options including
but not limited to those provided in this chapter; and
(b) The procedures to be followed to utilize the treatment options
described in this chapter.
(3) The department shall produce, and make available, the written
notification that must include, at a minimum, the information contained
in subsection (2) of this section.
(4) Pursuant to the provisions of RCW 71.34.700, if a minor is
brought to an evaluation and treatment facility or an emergency room
for immediate mental health services and is unwilling to consent to
voluntary admission, the parent or guardian, if present, must be
notified, as described in this section, of the statutorily available
treatment options contained in this chapter.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 2 A new section is added to chapter 71.34 RCW
to read as follows:
An evaluation and treatment facility that fails to comply with the
requirement to provide verbal and written notice to a parent or
guardian of a child under RCW 71.34.375 is subject to a civil penalty
of one thousand dollars for each failure to provide adequate notice,
unless the evaluation and treatment facility is a hospital licensed
under chapter 70.41 RCW or a psychiatric hospital licensed under
chapter 71.12 RCW in which case the department of health may enforce
the notice requirements using its existing enforcement authority
provided in chapters 70.41 and 71.12 RCW.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 3 A new section is added to chapter 71.34 RCW
to read as follows:
(1) By December 1, 2011, inpatient facilities licensed under
chapter 70.41, 71.12, or 72.23 RCW are required to adopt policies and
protocols regarding the notice requirements described in RCW 71.34.375;
and
(2) By December 1, 2012, the department shall provide a detailed
report to the legislature regarding the facilities' compliance with RCW
71.34.375 and subsection (1) of this section."
Correct the title.
EFFECT: (1) Requires evaluation and treatment facilities and
inpatient facilities licensed under the chapters governing hospitals,
private treatment facilities, and public and private facilities for the
mentally ill to provide written and verbal notice of statutorily
available treatment options to parents who bring a minor child to the
facility seeking treatment.
(2) Clarifies that notice is required when a parent or guardian is
seeking mental health treatment for his or her minor child.
(3) Removes the provision that required the "professional person in
charge" to give notice of treatment options when a minor is brought to
an evaluation and treatment facility or an emergency room.
(4) Removes the provision which provided that a failure to give
notice is considered unprofessional conduct for the professional person
in charge of the facility.
(5) Provides that only evaluation and treatment facilities are
subject to a civil penalty of $1000 for failure to provide notice under
the act.
(6) Adds a provision which requires, by December 1, 2011, inpatient
facilities covered under the act to adopt policies and protocols
regarding the notice requirements.
(7) Requires the Department of Social and Health Services to
provide a report to the Legislature by December 1, 2012 regarding the
facilities' compliance with the adoption of policies and protocols
regarding notice.