Behavioral health: hospital treatment.

Existing law requires emergency services and care to be provided to any person requesting the services or care, or for whom services or care is requested, for any condition in which the person is in danger of loss of life, or serious injury or illness, at a licensed health facility, as described, that maintains and operates an emergency department, as specified. Existing law prohibits a person needing emergency services and care from being transferred from a hospital to another hospital for any nonmedical reason unless specified conditions are met. Existing law makes a hospital that is found by the State Department of Public Health to have committed or to be responsible for a violation of these and other specified requirements subject to a civil penalty. Under existing law, when a person, as a result of mental health disorder, is a danger to self or others, or is gravely disabled, the person may, upon probable cause, be taken into custody and placed in a facility designated as specified for up to 72 hours for evaluation and treatment. This bill would require the department to develop and issue, no later than January 1, 2023, best practices for discharging a patient from an emergency department of a hospital if a patient presents behavioral health concerns, is to be released from the hospital, and is not to be taken into custody as a result of a mental health disorder, as described above.