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Obligations of the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities

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The department shall:

Establish, administer, and supervise the state programs for mental health, developmental disabilities, and addictive diseases;
Direct, supervise, and control the medical and physical care and treatment; recovery; and social, employment, housing, and community supports and services based on single or co-occurring diagnoses provided by the institutions, contractors, and programs under its control, management, or supervision;
Plan for and implement the coordination of mental health, developmental disability, and addictive disease services with physical health services, and the prevention of any of these diseases or conditions, and develop and promulgate rules and regulations to require that all health services be coordinated and that the public and private providers of any of these services that receive state support notify other providers of services to the same patients of the conditions, treatment, and medication regimens each provider is prescribing and delivering;
Ensure that providers of mental health, developmental disability, or addictive disease services coordinate with providers of primary and specialty health care so that treatment of conditions of the brain and the body can be integrated to promote recovery, health, and well-being;
Have authority to contract, including performance based contracts which may include financial incentives or consequences based on the results achieved by a contractor as measured by output, quality, or outcome measures, for services with community service boards, private agencies, and other public entities for the provision of services within a service area so as to provide an adequate array of services and choice of providers for consumers and to comply with the applicable federal laws and rules and regulations related to public or private hospitals; hospital authorities; medical schools and training and educational institutions; departments and agencies of this state; county or municipal governments; any person, partnership, corporation, or association, whether public or private; and the United States government or the government of any other state;
Establish and support programs for the training of professional and technical personnel as well as regional advisory councils and community service boards;
Have authority to conduct research into the causes and treatment of disability and into the means of effectively promoting mental health and addictive disease recovery;
Assign specific responsibility to one or more units of the department for the development of a disability prevention program. The objectives of such program shall include, but are not limited to, monitoring of completed and ongoing research related to the prevention of disability, implementation of programs known to be preventive, and testing, where practical, of those measures having a substantive potential for the prevention of disability;
Establish a system for local administration of mental health, developmental disability, and addictive disease services in institutions and in the community;
Make and administer budget allocations to fund the operation of mental health, developmental disabilities, and addictive diseases facilities and programs;
Coordinate in consultation with providers, professionals, and other experts the development of appropriate outcome measures for client centered service delivery systems;
Establish, operate, supervise, and staff programs and facilities for the treatment of disabilities throughout this state;
Disseminate information about available services and the facilities through which such services may be obtained;
Supervise the local office's exercise of its responsibility concerning funding and delivery of disability services;
Supervise the local offices concerning the administration of grants, gifts, moneys, and donations for purposes pertaining to mental health, developmental disabilities, and addictive diseases;
Supervise the administration of contracts with any hospital, community service board, or any public or private providers without regard to regional or state boundaries for the provision of disability services and in making and entering into all contracts necessary or incidental to the performance of the duties and functions of the department and the local offices;
Regulate the delivery of care, including behavioral interventions and medication administration by licensed staff, or certified staff as determined by the department, within residential settings serving only persons who are receiving services authorized or financed, in whole or in part, by the department;
Classify host homes for persons whose services are financially supported, in whole or in part, by funds authorized through the department. As used in this Code section, the term "host home" means a private residence in a residential area in which the occupant owner or lessee provides housing and provides or arranges for the provision of food, one or more personal services, supports, care, or treatment exclusively for one or two persons who are not related to the occupant owner or lessee by blood or marriage. A host home shall be occupied by the owner or lessee, who shall not be an employee of the same community provider which provides the host home services by contract with the department. The department shall approve and enter into agreements with community providers which, in turn, contract with host homes. The occupant owner or lessee shall not be the guardian of any person served or of their property nor the agent in such person's advance directive for health care. The placement determination for each person placed in a host home shall be made according to such person's choice as well as the individual needs of such person in accordance with the requirements of Code Section 37-3-162, 37-4-122, or 37-7-162, as applicable to such person;
Provide guidelines for and oversight of host homes, which may include, but not be limited to, criteria to become a host home, requirements relating to physical plants and supports, placement procedures, and ongoing oversight requirements;
Supervise the regular visitation of disability services facilities and programs in order to assure contracted providers are licensed and accredited by the designated agencies prescribed by the department, and in order to evaluate the effectiveness and appropriateness of the services, as such services relate to the health, safety, and welfare of service recipients, and to provide technical assistance to programs in delivering services;
Establish a unit of the department which shall receive and consider complaints from individuals receiving services, make recommendations to the commissioner regarding such complaints, and ensure that the rights of individuals receiving services are fully protected;
With respect to housing opportunities for persons with mental illness and co-occurring disorders:
1. Coordinate the department's programs and services with other state agencies and housing providers;
2. Facilitate partnerships with local communities;
3. Educate the public on the need for supportive housing;
4. Collect information on the need for supportive housing and monitor the benefit of such housing; and
5. Identify and determine best practices for the provision of services connected to housing;
Exercise all powers and duties provided for in this title or which may be deemed necessary to effectuate the purposes of this title;
Assign specific responsibility to one or more units of the department for the development of programs designed to serve disabled infants, children, and youth. To the extent practicable, such units shall cooperate with the Georgia Department of Education and the University System of Georgia in developing such programs;
Have the right to designate private institutions as state institutions; to contract with such private institutions for such activities, in carrying out this title, as the department may deem necessary from time to time; and to exercise such supervision and cooperation in the operation of such designated private institutions as the department may deem necessary;
Establish policies and procedures governing fiscal standards and practices of community service boards and their respective governing boards; and
Coordinate the establishment and operation of a data base and network to serve as a comprehensive management information system for disability services and programs.

(Code 1933, §§ 88-601, 88-602, 88-603, enacted by Ga. L. 1964, p. 499, § 1; Code 1933, § 88-603, enacted by Ga. L. 1976, p. 953, § 1; Ga. L. 1982, p. 3, § 37; Ga. L. 1987, p. 3, § 37; Ga. L. 1993, p. 1445, § 7; Ga. L. 2002, p. 1324, § 1-6; Ga. L. 2003, p. 558, §§ 5, 6; Ga. L. 2008, p. 263, § 2/SB 469; Ga. L. 2009, p. 8, § 37/SB 46; Ga. L. 2009, p. 453, § 3-1/HB 228; Ga. L. 2014, p. 309, § 1/SB 349; Ga. L. 2015, p. 1361, § 1/HB 512.)

The 2014 amendment, effective April 16, 2014, inserted ", including performance based contracts which may include financial incentives or consequences based on the results achieved by a contractor as measured by output, quality, or outcome measures," near the beginning of paragraph (5); deleted "and" at the end of paragraph (23); substituted "; and" for a period at the end of paragraph (24); and added paragraph (25).

The 2015 amendment, effective July 1, 2015, substituted "advisory councils" for "planning boards" in paragraph (6); substituted "local administration" for "regional administration" in paragraph (9); deleted "to regional offices established by the board pursuant to Code Section 37-2-4.1" following "budget allocations" in paragraph (10); substituted "the local office's exercise of its responsibility concerning" for "the regional office's exercise of its responsibility and authority concerning" in paragraph (14); substituted "local offices concerning the administration" for "regional offices concerning the receipt and administration" in paragraph (15); substituted "local offices" for "regional offices" in paragraph (16); added paragraph (20); redesignated former paragraphs (20) through (25) as present paragraphs (21) through (26), respectively; deleted "and" at the end of paragraph (25); substituted "; and" for a period at the end of paragraph (26); and added paragraph (27).

Code Commission notes.

- The amendment of this Code section by Ga. L. 2009, p. 8, § 37, irreconcilably conflicted with and was treated as superseded by Ga. L. 2009, p. 453, § 3-1. See County of Butts v. Strahan, 151 Ga. 417 (1921).

Editor's notes.

- Ga. L. 1993, p. 1445, § 18.1, not codified by the General Assembly, provides: "Nothing in this Act shall be construed to repeal any provision of Chapter 5 of Title 37 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, the 'Community Services Act for the Mentally Retarded.' "

Ga. L. 1993, p. 1445, § 19, not codified by the General Assembly, provides: "This Act shall become effective on July 1, 1994; provided, however, that provisions relating to the establishment of regional and community service board boundaries and the appointments of regional boards and community service boards shall become effective on July 1, 1993, or upon whatever date is stipulated in the Act and provided, further, that the provisions authorizing a county board of health to agree to serve as the lead county board of health for only that county shall become effective upon the approval of this Act by the Governor or upon its becoming law without such approval." The Act was approved by the Governor on April 27, 1993.

Ga. L. 1993, p. 1445, which amends this Code section, provides, in § 19.1, not codified by the General Assembly, that the amendment is repealed on June 30, 1999; however, Ga. L. 1998, p. 870, § 1, struck § 19.1 of Ga. L. 1993, p. 1445, which would have repealed the 1993 amendment to this Code section.

RESEARCH REFERENCES

ALR.

- Adequacy of defense counsel's representation of criminal client - issues of incompetency, 70 A.L.R.5th 1.

Adequacy of defense counsel's representation of criminal client - pretrial conduct or conduct at unspecified time regarding issues of insanity, 72 A.L.R.5th 109.

JUDICIAL DECISIONS

Cited in Lakeview Behavioral Health Sys., LLC v. UHS Peachford, LP, 321 Ga. App. 820, 743 S.E.2d 492 (2013).

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