§15003. Responsibilities of the departments

In addition to any responsibilities otherwise provided by law, the departments have the following responsibilities.   [PL 1997, c. 790, Pt. A, §1 (NEW); PL 1997, c. 790, Pt. A, §3 (AFF).]

1.  Agreements between departments.  The departments shall enter into agreements that designate the department as responsible for the implementation and operation of the program and specify the other departments' respective responsibilities. The agreements must provide mechanisms for planning, developing and designating lead responsibility for each child's care and for coordinating care and supportive services.

The agreements must include memoranda of agreement that provide for clinical consultation and supervision, delivery of care, staff training and development, program development and finances.

[PL 2019, c. 343, Pt. DDD, §4 (AMD).]

2.  Coordination.  The department is responsible for coordinating with the other departments to:

A. Establish policies and adopt rules necessary to implement the program, including, but not limited to, policies and rules that provide access to clinically appropriate care; establish eligibility standards; provide for uniform intake and assessment protocols; adopt screening tools for functional impairment pursuant to section 15001, subsection 3, paragraph D; and provide for access to information among departments. Rules regarding functional impairments must be developed and adopted by the departments through rulemaking;   [PL 2019, c. 343, Pt. DDD, §5 (AMD).]

B. Develop necessary community-based residential and nonresidential resources for care and supportive services;   [PL 1997, c. 790, Pt. A, §1 (NEW); PL 1997, c. 790, Pt. A, §3 (AFF).]

C. Provide clinically appropriate care in accordance with the memoranda of agreement executed pursuant to subsection 1, including providing all care provided under the authority of the Department of Health and Human Services through residential and nonresidential resources within the State by July 1, 2004; and   [RR 2003, c. 2, §110 (COR).]

D. Monitor available care and supportive services, the extent of any unused capacity and unmet need, the need for increased capacity and the efforts and progress of the departments in addressing unmet needs.   [PL 1997, c. 790, Pt. A, §1 (NEW); PL 1997, c. 790, Pt. A, §3 (AFF).]

[PL 2019, c. 343, Pt. DDD, §5 (AMD).]

3.  Medicaid rules.  The department, after consultation with the Department of Corrections and the Department of Education, shall adopt rules for the provision of mental health care to children under the Medicaid program. The rules must address eligibility and reimbursement for different types of care in different settings, including management of psychiatric hospitalization. Rules in effect prior to the adoption of rules adopted pursuant to this subsection remain in effect until the effective date of the new rules.

Rules for managed care initially adopted under this subsection are major substantive rules as defined in Title 5, chapter 375, subchapter 2-A and when first adopted must be adopted following the procedure for such rules.

[RR 2003, c. 2, §111 (COR).]

4.  Statutory responsibilities; services, benefits or entitlements.  Nothing in this chapter may be construed to constrain or to impair any departments of this State in carrying out statutorily mandated responsibilities to children and their families or to diminish or to alter any services, benefits or entitlements received by virtue of statutory responsibilities.

[PL 1997, c. 790, Pt. A, §1 (NEW); PL 1997, c. 790, Pt. A, §3 (AFF).]

5.  Fiscal management.  Funds appropriated or allocated for the purposes of this chapter must be used to provide care, to administer the program, to meet departmental responsibilities and to develop resources for children's care in this State as determined necessary through the individualized treatment planning process pursuant to section 15502, subsection 1.

A. When care is provided for a child that costs less than the amount that had been budgeted for that care from funds within the budgets of the Department of Human Services, Medicaid accounts and the Department of Behavioral and Developmental Services, the savings in funds must be reinvested to provide care to children or to develop resources for care in the State.   [PL 1997, c. 790, Pt. A, §1 (NEW); PL 1997, c. 790, Pt. A, §3 (AFF); PL 2001, c. 354, §3 (AMD).]

B. The departments shall adopt fiscal information systems that record appropriations, allocations, expenditures and transfers of funds for children's care for all funding sources in a manner that separates funding for children from funding for adults.   [PL 1997, c. 790, Pt. A, §1 (NEW); PL 1997, c. 790, Pt. A, §3 (AFF).]

C. The departments shall shift children's program block grant funding toward the development of a community-based mental health system that includes developing additional community-based services and providing care and services for children who are not eligible for services under the Medicaid program. The departments shall maximize the use of federal funding, the Medicaid program and health coverage for children under the federal Balanced Budget Act of 1997, Public Law 105-133, 111 Stat. 251.   [PL 1997, c. 790, Pt. A, §1 (NEW); PL 1997, c. 790, Pt. A, §3 (AFF).]

D. The departments shall work with the Department of Administrative and Financial Services to remove barriers to allow appropriate funds, irrespective of origin or designation, to be combined to provide and to develop the care and support services needed for the program, to use General Fund money to meet needs that are not met by other funds and to leverage state funds to maximize the use of federal funding for each child, including the use of funds under the Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act of 1980, Title IV-E of the Social Security Act, 42 United States Code, Sections 670 to 679a (Supplement 1997) and other federal funds for care delivered to children living at home and in all types of residential placements.   [PL 1997, c. 790, Pt. A, §1 (NEW); PL 1997, c. 790, Pt. A, §3 (AFF).]

[PL 1997, c. 790, Pt. A, §1 (NEW); PL 1997, c. 790, Pt. A, §3 (AFF); PL 2001, c. 354, §3 (AMD).]

6.  Management information systems.  The departments shall work toward integration of management information systems to administer the program and to perform the functions provided in this subsection.

A. The management information systems must track all types of nonresidential and residential care provided for children and supportive services provided for their families; the extent of met and unmet need for care; the extent of any waiting lists used in the program; behavioral, functional and clinical information; the development of resources; and the costs of the program.   [PL 1997, c. 790, Pt. A, §1 (NEW); PL 1997, c. 790, Pt. A, §3 (AFF).]

B. Information on the care of children served through the program must be kept by treatment need, region, care provided, a child's progress and department involvement. Information on children who transfer from care out of the State to care in the State must be kept as part of the total system and must be kept separately.   [PL 1997, c. 790, Pt. A, §1 (NEW); PL 1997, c. 790, Pt. A, §3 (AFF).]

C. The departments shall work toward data collection systems that use compatible data collection tools and procedures and toward care monitoring and evaluation systems.   [PL 1997, c. 790, Pt. A, §1 (NEW); PL 1997, c. 790, Pt. A, §3 (AFF).]

[PL 1997, c. 790, Pt. A, §1 (NEW); PL 1997, c. 790, Pt. A, §3 (AFF).]

7.  Evaluation process.  The departments shall develop an evaluation process for the program that includes:

A. Internal quality assurance mechanisms, clinical progress and performance indicators and information on costs;   [PL 1997, c. 790, Pt. A, §1 (NEW); PL 1997, c. 790, Pt. A, §3 (AFF).]

B. System capacity and unmet need for care and department progress in responding to excess capacity and unmet need for care; and   [PL 1997, c. 790, Pt. A, §1 (NEW); PL 1997, c. 790, Pt. A, §3 (AFF).]

C. Auditing as required by subsection 8.   [PL 1997, c. 790, Pt. A, §1 (NEW); PL 1997, c. 790, Pt. A, §3 (AFF).]

Copies of all evaluation reports must be provided to the joint standing committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over health and human services matters upon completion.

The department shall seek funding from grants and other outside sources for external evaluations on program effectiveness and cost effectiveness.

[PL 2019, c. 343, Pt. DDD, §6 (AMD).]

8.  Audits; financial reports.  The departments shall provide access to their books, records, reports, information and financial papers for federal and state audits for fiscal and programmatic purposes and shall cooperate with all requests for the purposes of auditing. Auditing must be done annually and may be retrospective as determined by the auditor. Reports resulting from audits are public information.

[PL 1997, c. 790, Pt. A, §1 (NEW); PL 1997, c. 790, Pt. A, §3 (AFF).]

9.  Reports.  The department shall report by August 1st each year to the joint standing committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over health and human services matters on the following matters:

A. The operation of the program, including fiscal status of the accounts and funds from all sources, including blended, pooled and flexible funding, related to children's mental health care in the departments; numbers of children and families served and their residences by county; numbers of children transferred to care in this State and the types of care to which they were transferred; any waiting lists; delays in delivering services; the progress of the departments in developing new resources; appeals procedures requested, held and decided; the results of decided appeals and audits; and evaluations done on the program;   [PL 1997, c. 790, Pt. A, §1 (NEW); PL 1997, c. 790, Pt. A, §3 (AFF).]

B. The experiences of the departments in coordinating program administration and care delivery, including, but not limited to, progress on management information systems; uniform application forms, procedures and assessment tools; case coordination and case management; the use of pooled and blended funding; and initiatives in acquiring and using federal and state funds; and   [PL 1997, c. 790, Pt. A, §1 (NEW); PL 1997, c. 790, Pt. A, §3 (AFF).]

C. Barriers to improved delivery of care to children and their families and the progress of the departments in overcoming those barriers.   [PL 1997, c. 790, Pt. A, §1 (NEW); PL 1997, c. 790, Pt. A, §3 (AFF).]

[PL 2019, c. 343, Pt. DDD, §7 (AMD).]

10.  Reporting on children's crisis services.  Beginning October 31, 2001, the department shall report by the last day of each month on the status of children's crisis services provided or requested under this chapter. The report must cover the number of children in crisis situations for the preceding month and the time it took to resolve the crisis situations and secure appropriate hospital or residential placements or crisis beds or in-home crisis supports for the children. The report must include all children in crisis situations, regardless of the source of payment for hospitalization, residential placement, crisis beds or in-home crisis supports. The report must protect the confidentiality of all persons involved in the situation as required by state or federal law, rule or regulation.

A. In preparing the report, the department shall make a reasonable effort to obtain information from general hospitals, psychiatric hospitals and children's residential programs. The department shall develop a standardized format for the reporting of data on a monthly basis and shall distribute the form to crisis service providers and children's residential programs electronically on the first working day of each month.   [PL 2001, c. 439, Pt. KKK, §1 (NEW).]

B. Crisis service providers and children's residential programs funded by the department shall report the information requested on the electronic forms under paragraph A to the department by the 15th of each month.   [PL 2001, c. 439, Pt. KKK, §1 (NEW).]

C. If the department determines that there is a substantial need for residential placement, increased hospital resources or community-based crisis services or that action may be required by the Legislature, the department shall highlight those issues in the report.   [PL 2001, c. 439, Pt. KKK, §1 (NEW).]

D. The department shall provide the report, which is public information, to the joint standing committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over health and human services matters.   [PL 2019, c. 343, Pt. DDD, §8 (AMD).]

E. The provisions of this section must be accomplished within the department's existing resources.   [PL 2001, c. 439, Pt. KKK, §1 (NEW).]

[PL 2019, c. 343, Pt. DDD, §8 (AMD).]

SECTION HISTORY

PL 1997, c. 790, §A1 (NEW). PL 1997, c. 790, §A3 (AFF). PL 2001, c. 354, §3 (AMD). PL 2001, c. 439, §KKK1 (AMD). RR 2003, c. 2, §§110,111 (COR). PL 2003, c. 367, §1 (AMD). PL 2003, c. 689, §B6 (REV). PL 2019, c. 343, Pt. DDD, §§4-8 (AMD).