Acute psychiatric hospital: County of Ventura: outpatient mental health services.

Existing law provides for the regulation and licensure of health facilities, as defined, including acute psychiatric hospitals, by the State Department of Public Health. Existing law defines an acute psychiatric hospital for purposes of these provisions to mean a health facility having a duly constituted governing body with overall administrative and professional responsibility and an organized medical staff that provides 24-hour inpatient care for persons with mental health disorders or other patients referred, as specified, including medical, nursing, rehabilitative, pharmacy, and dietary services. A violation of the provisions governing health facilities is a crime. This bill would authorize, for a period of not more than 180 days, and only until November 1, 2018, the State Department of Public Health to permit an acute psychiatric hospital that was affected by a wildfire during the month of December 2017, and that is in the County of Ventura, to provide outpatient mental health services that were approved by the department and operational as supplemental services before the wildfire occurred, while the inpatient operations of the acute psychiatric hospital are voluntarily suspended. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the County of Ventura. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.