HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 1433        FILED ON: 1/13/2009

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 3585

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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In the Year Two Thousand Nine

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An Act pertaining to people with mental illness in hospital emergency rooms..

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
 

SECTION 1.  Section 25A of said chapter 111 of the General Laws, as so appearing in the 2006 Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting after the word “commonwealth”, in line 33, the following words: -

, including data analysis relating to the use of behavioral restraint in certified emergency care units of facilities as defined in section 70E of chapter 111.

SECTION 2.  Subsection (a) of section 2 of chapter 118G, as so appearing, is hereby amended by inserting after the word “services ” the following words:-

, including data on the use of behavioral restraint in certified emergency care units of facilities as defined in section 70E of chapter 111.

SECTION 3.  Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, the commissioner of the department of mental health and the commissioner of the department of public health shall submit a report semiannually on the progress of their joint working group on emergency room treatment for people with behavioral health disorders to the joint committee on mental health and substance abuse, the joint committee on public health and the house and senate clerk.