(1) The department shall identify an advisory body, referred to in this article 63 as the "advisory body", to assist the department in creating a comprehensive proposal to strengthen and expand the behavioral health safety net system. The advisory body shall include but not be limited to representatives from other relevant state departments, representatives from counties representing various regions of the state affected by community behavioral health service availability, representatives from law enforcement, consumers, family members of consumers, behavioral health providers, behavioral health administrative organizations, and advocates. Members of the advisory body shall disclose potential conflicts of interest and shall recuse themselves from voting when the member has a financial interest related to the provision of delivering clinical services in the behavioral health safety net system. Voting members of the advisory body shall not include behavioral health providers that have a potential financial interest related to the provision of delivering clinical services in the behavioral health safety net system.
(2) Safety net system comprehensive proposal. (a) No later than July 1, 2021, the department, in collaboration with the advisory body, shall develop a comprehensive proposal to strengthen and expand the safety net system that provides behavioral health services for individuals with severe behavioral health disorders, referred to in this article 63 as a "safety net system", including individuals with co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders.
The department and advisory body shall solicit feedback from community stakeholders and engage community stakeholders when developing the proposal described in subsection (2)(a) of this section, including direct engagement of consumers and consumers' families, managed service organizations, health care providers, managed care entities, community mental health centers, and substance use disorder services providers.
The safety net system comprehensive proposal must, at a minimum:
Identify what behavioral health services each community must have access to in eachregion of the state;
Develop a funding model to ensure the viability of the safety net system. The funding model must supplement and not supplant any state funding to complement medicaid, federal substance abuse prevention and treatment block grants, federal mental health services block grants, and private pay funding.
Provide locally responsive recommendations, including legislative recommendations, to address behavioral health provider licensing and regulations, housing, transportation, workforce, and any other barrier that curbs access to care; and
Set forth criteria and processes, in collaboration with behavioral health providers,for when the needs of an individual referred to a safety net provider exceed the treatment capacity or clinical expertise of that provider.
(3) This section is repealed, effective July 1, 2024.
Source: L. 2019: Entire article added, (SB 19-222), ch. 226, p. 2268, § 6, effective May 20. L. 2020: (2)(b) amended, (SB 20-136), ch. 70, p. 300, § 57, effective September 14.
Cross references: For the legislative declaration in SB 20-136, see section 1 of chapter 70, Session Laws of Colorado 2020.