IMPROVED DATA ON INVOLUNTARY COMMITMENTS.

Printer-friendly: Click to view
View NCGA Bill Details2023-2024 Session
House Bill 677 (Public) Filed Tuesday, April 18, 2023
AN ACT ESTABLISHING INVOLUNTARY COMMITMENT DATA COLLECTION AND REPORTING REQUIREMENTS FOR AREA FACILITIES AND HOSPITALS WHERE FIRST EXAMINATIONS FOR INVOLUNTARY COMMITMENTS ARE PERFORMED AND FOR LOCAL MANAGEMENT ENTITIES/MANAGED CARE ORGANIZATIONS.
Intro. by Autry, Lambeth, Sasser, Harrison.

Status: Ref to the Com on Health, if favorable, Judiciary 1, if favorable, Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House (House action) (Apr 19 2023)
H 677

Bill Summaries:

  • Summary date: Apr 18 2023 - View Summary

    Amends GS 122C-255, establishing a new biannual reporting requirement for licensed area facilities and acute care or general hospitals that perform first examinations for commitment required under Parts 7 and 8 of Article to submit a written report on involuntary commitments to the LME/MCO that serves the facility or hospital's county, providing data for the six-month periods beginning January 1 and ending June 30, and beginning July 1, and ending December 31.

    Details the required content of the report as follows. Requires inclusion of the number of individuals presented to the area facility or hospital for a first commitment examination under a custody and transportation order, the number of those individuals found to meet the criteria for inpatient commitment upon first examination and of those individuals, the number recommended for outpatient commitment and the average and median length of stay for such individuals. Requires inclusion of the number of respondents who initially presented voluntarily and for whom commitment examiners submitted petitions for commitment to the magistrate or clerk of court, and the number of custody orders issued for transport to a 24-hour facility based on a finding of inpatient commitment, with the number of those individuals ultimately transported to a 24-hour facility for a second examination and the average and median length of stay before transport, the number discharged and their proceedings terminated at the site of first examination as specified and the median and average length of stay before discharge, and the number of individuals released based on a petition to the clerk or magistrate for outpatient commitment and the median and average length of stay. For individuals transported to the area facility or hospital and presented for first commitment examination under custody and transportation orders, requires inclusion of whether the transporting person used force or physical restraint, the type of restraint used and the person's proffered reasoning, whether resulting bodily injury required medical care, and whether the officer or designated person remained with the respondent and continued to maintain custody at the facility or left the facility's premises based on an assessment that appropriate supervision was available at the facility. Deems this data confidential and not public record.

    Directs LME/MCOs to aggregate all the data received from area facilities and hospitals by local area or county, and related data from the Administrative Office of the Courts, without reference to the specific facility or hospital, and report the data to each of the facilities and hospitals within its service area that is participating in the collection and reporting of data as now required, and the specified Division of the Department of Health and Human Services. Deems the aggregated data public records so long as the data does not identify specific facilities or hospitals by reference to their own reported data.

    Effective January 1, 2024.