General acute care hospitals: suicide screening.

Existing law licenses and regulates general acute care hospitals as a type of 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 that includes medical, nursing, surgical, anesthesia, laboratory, radiology, pharmacy, and dietary services. Existing law establishes the Office of Suicide Prevention upon appropriation of funds for those purposes. This bill would require, on or before January 1, 2025, a general acute care hospital to establish and adopt written policies and procedures to screen patients who are 12 years of age and older for purposes of detecting a risk for suicidal ideation and behavior. The bill would require the procedures to include, among other things, a designation of the licensed staff who are responsible for the implementation of the policies and procedures. The bill would further require a general acute care hospital to routinely screen patients who are 12 years of age and older for a risk of suicidal ideation and behavior in compliance with the policies and procedures.