Bill Amendment: IL SB0347 | 2021-2022 | 102nd General Assembly

NOTE: For additional amemendments please see the Bill Drafting List

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Bill Title: MIND STRONG ACT

Status: 2021-05-15 - Rule 19(a) / Re-referred to Rules Committee [SB0347 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2021-SB0347-Senate_Amendment_001.html

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Sen. Robert Peters

Filed: 3/19/2021

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AMENDMENT TO SENATE BILL 347
AMENDMENT NO. ______. Amend Senate Bill 347 by replacing
everything after the enacting clause with the following:
"Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the
Alternatives to Crisis Escalation (ACE) Act.
Section 5. Purpose. This Act is intended to strengthen and
bring community awareness to underutilized Medicaid mental
health and substance use crisis response services, called
adult mobile crisis response services, to enable timely
community-based stabilization, symptom management, and
connection to treatment before crisis symptoms escalate to an
emergent level, and to enable similar crisis response services
for anyone regardless of insurance status.
Section 10. Public awareness campaign. The Department of
Public Health, or a third-party contractor with experience in

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successful public education and awareness campaigns selected
by the Department of Public Health, shall develop and lead a
2-year educational campaign within each of Illinois' 11 health
regions on the availability of adult mobile crisis response
services within each region and how to access such services.
The Department of Public Health shall develop and implement
this public awareness and educational campaign in
collaboration with community stakeholders, including the types
of organizations and individuals listed in paragraph (5), the
Department of Healthcare and Family Services, and the
Department of Human Services. This campaign shall align with
and be coordinated with any rollout of a centralized 988
crisis line in Illinois for the development of a coordinated
mental health and substance use crisis response system of care
and to ensure aligned messaging around such services. Such a
campaign shall also take into account crisis services, if any,
offered under Section 15, and shall begin by no later than
January 1, 2022.
(1) The public awareness campaign shall be culturally
competent and locally tailored to ensure local buy-in and
community understanding and use of adult mobile crisis
response services.
(2) Any written public or community awareness
materials must be written in plain, easy-to-understand
language, and shall be available in multiple languages
that are representative of the communities in a particular

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health region.
(3) All written or visual materials, videos, webinars,
presentations, social media, or other methods of
communication or marketing used for increasing community
awareness and public support and use of adult mobile
crisis response services shall be specifically tailored
for different types of community stakeholders or
audiences, including, but not limited to, healthcare
providers, law enforcement, and community groups, for
purposes of increasing support for and use of such
services.
(4) The public awareness and educational campaign
shall be directed toward community entities and actors,
including, but not limited to, those listed in paragraph
(5), that are likely to come into contact with individuals
in crisis or that have broad community involvement and
support, as well as to individuals who might seek mental
health or substance use crisis support services.
(5) The following types of stakeholders shall be
included as partner-stakeholders in the development of the
campaign:
(A) Individuals who have or might use adult mobile
crisis response services.
(B) Mental health and substance use disorder
organizations representing individuals and family
members, including peer support networks.

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(C) Hospitals and primary care clinics.
(D) Local law enforcement, including units trained
in crisis intervention team training.
(E) Law enforcement associations.
(F) The Illinois Law Enforcement Training
Standards Board.
(G) The Illinois State Police.
(H) Local fire departments.
(I) Municipalities.
(J) Faith-based organizations.
(K) Food pantries.
(L) Homeless shelters.
(M) Local public officials.
(N) Nursing homes, specialized mental health
rehabilitation facilities, and facilities that qualify
as an institution for mental diseases as defined in 42
U.S.C. 1369(d)(i).
(N) Other community organizations or providers
that may come into frequent contact with individuals
in a mental health or substance use crisis, or that
have broad community support and involvement.
Section 15. Enabling universal access to adult mobile
crisis response services. Subject to appropriation, the
Department of Human Services shall establish a grant program
for purposes of providing adult mobile crisis response

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services to any adult age 18 or older experiencing a mental
health or substance use crisis regardless of insurance status.
The adult mobile crisis response services covered by this
grant shall mirror the adult mobile crisis services covered by
Illinois' Medicaid program at a minimum. Such grant shall also
cover linkage, case management, and any wrap around treatment
and support services that are medically necessary for up to 90
days following a mental health or substance use crisis. Such
grant shall also support the service provider's work on
enrolling the individual in Medicaid if they are eligible for
enrollment. The grant services covered in accordance with this
Section shall not be used to pay for adult mobile crisis
response services or other services for individuals enrolled
in Illinois' Medicaid program, or for individuals whose
private insurance plan covers similar mobile crisis response
or wrap around services. The Department of Human Services'
Division of Mental Health and Division of Substance Use
Prevention and Recovery shall convene a working group of
providers and other stakeholders for purposes of receiving
meaningful input on development of the grant program covered
by this Section to ensure that there is no duplication of
services, and to avoid placing any unnecessary barriers that
impede access to crisis response services. This grant program
for adult mobile crisis response services shall not replace or
diminish existing Department of Human Services grants for
crisis services, and are intended to fill the gap in mobile

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crisis response services for individuals not covered by
Medicaid.
Section 20. Strengthening CARES line capacity and
implementing best practices.
(a) By no later than one year after the effective date of
this Act, the Department of Healthcare and Family Services,
with meaningful stakeholder input and input from states and
localities across the country that have implemented nationally
recognized or emerging best practices in crisis response
systems of care, shall do all of the following:
(1) Develop and implement training and protocols for
individuals answering crisis calls to the Crisis and
Referral Entry Services (CARES) line that support and
enable providing triage and de-escalation to CARES line
callers when appropriate and safe. The Department of
Healthcare and Family Services shall ensure that CARES
line call takers are trained mental health professionals,
which may also include peers who are individuals with a
lived experience of a mental health or substance use
condition.
(2) Develop and implement protocols and training for
CARES line staff to conduct quality control and caller
satisfaction follow up.
(3) Ensure coordination of adult mobile crisis
response services and CARES line services with other

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existing and future crisis response services and hotlines,
such as any future 988 centralized crisis line that may be
established.
(b) By no later than one year after the effective date of
this Act, the Department of Healthcare and Family Services,
with meaningful input from adult mobile crisis response and
CARES line providers and organizations representing
individuals and families with lived experience of mental
health and substance use conditions, shall identify crisis
response policies and practices that must be standardized
across providers to ensure quality and consistency of crisis
response care, and shall identify strategies to expand
staffing for CARES line call takers to reduce wait times. Any
standardization of policies and practices must also allow for
variability to ensure the ability to effectively provide these
services in a manner that reflects the unique needs of the
communities served in each health region.
(c) The Department of Healthcare and Family Services shall
convene a workgroup that includes the appropriate stakeholders
to help inform the development and implementation of this
subsection.
Section 25. Use of data to strengthen CARES line responses
and adult mobile crisis response services.
(a) The Department of Healthcare and Family Services shall
annually track the following data related to CARES line calls

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for purposes of developing a crisis response system of care in
each of Illinois' 11 health regions.
(1) The number and percentage of calls to the CARES
line by adults in a mental health crisis by health region.
(2) The number and percentage of calls to the CARES
line by adults in a substance use crisis by health region.
(3) The number and percentage of CARES line calls for
which adult mobile crisis response services were rejected
or not provided and why.
(4) The annual percentage increase or decrease from
the previous year in CARES line calls for mental health
crises and for substance use crises following the first
year of data collection.
(5) The number of callers to the CARES line who needed
to be referred to a second provider due to a wait list or
the inability to access timely services.
(b) The Department of Healthcare and Family Services shall
track the following data annually related to adult mobile
crisis response services by using the data reported by adult
mobile crisis response providers of such services on the
Illinois Medicaid � Crisis Assessment Tool.
(1) Demographics (race, gender expression, and
Illinois health region of residence) for individuals who
received adult mobile crisis response services.
(2) The number of providers delivering adult mobile
crisis response services in each of Illinois' 11 health

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regions, and the zip codes in which they operate.
(3) The number and percentage of adult mobile crisis
response services calls that involved law enforcement,
including transportation services and safety risks.
(4) The types of mental health or substance use
services to which individuals are linked and the
percentage of that type of linkage through the year
following receiving adult mobile crisis response services,
including:
(A) Hospital emergency rooms.
(B) Inpatient hospitalization.
(C) Crisis stabilization or triage units.
(D) Detoxification services.
(E) Substance use disorder residential treatment.
(F) Outpatient substance use disorder treatment.
(G) Living room services.
(H) Assertive community treatment.
(I) Community support treatment.
(J) Case management.
(K) Individual or group mental health or substance
use services.
(L) Placement in a nursing home, an institution
for mental diseases, or a specialized mental health
rehabilitation facility.
(c) The data collected under this Section shall be
reported annually on the official website of the Department of

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Healthcare and Family Services by July 1st of each year
beginning in calendar year 2022.
Section 30. Rulemaking Authority. The Departments of
Public Health, Human Services, and Healthcare and Family
Services shall adopt, within one year after the effective date
of this Act, any rules necessary to implement the provisions
of this Act.
Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
becoming law.".