Amendment ID: S2609-9

Amendment 9

Protection of children's health mental services

Mr. Lewis moves that the proposed new text be amended by adding the following sections:-

SECTION X. Section 16R of chapter 6A of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2016 Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting after the first paragraph the following paragraph:-

If, after 14 days of the team determining which services a child is eligible for, the team is unable to reach a consensus on the responsibility of payment, and the child is unable to access said services because of disagreement about responsibility for payment among state agencies and local education agencies, the child advocate shall be notified and shall have the authority to impose a binding temporary cost share agreement on said state agencies and local education agencies. The cost share agreement shall remain in effect until the child advocate is informed in writing of a permanent cost share or payment agreement having been implemented or until the child no longer qualifies for said services.

SECTION X. Said section 2 of said chapter 18C, as so appearing, is hereby further amended by inserting after the word “families”, in line 17, the following words:-

; and

(e) impose temporary cost share agreements, as necessary pursuant to section 16R of chapter 6A to ensure children’s timely access to services