N.Y. Mental Hygiene Law § 9.51: Residential treatment facilities for children and youth; admissions

§ 9.51 Residential treatment facilities for children and youth;

admissions.

(a) The director of a residential treatment facility for children and

youth, as defined by section 1.03 of this chapter, may receive as a

patient a person under the age of twenty-one in need of care and

treatment in such a facility who has been determined appropriate for

such care and treatment in accordance with standards and priorities for

admission established by the office in regulations in accordance with

federal regulations.

(b) Persons admitted as in-patients to hospitals operated by the

office of mental health upon the application of the commissioner of the

office of children and family services pursuant to section five hundred

nine of the executive law or 353.4 of the family court act who are not

subject to a restrictive placement pursuant to section 353.5 of the

family court act, may, if appropriate, and subject to the provisions of

subdivision (d) of this section, be transferred to a residential

treatment facility for children and youth. The commissioner of the

office of children and family services shall be notified of any such

transfer. When appropriate, the director of the residential treatment

facility may arrange the return of a patient so transferred to the

hospital or the transfer of a patient to another hospital or, in

accordance with subdivision four of section five hundred nine of the

executive law to the commissioner of the office of children and family

services.

(c) The commissioner shall consult with the executive director of the

council on children and families regarding the establishment of an

advisory board. The advisory board shall include, as deemed appropriate

by the commissioner and the executive director of the council on

children and families, representatives of the members of the council on

children and families as specified in section four hundred eighty-three

of the social services law, local agency representatives under the

jurisdiction of a member agency of the council on children and families,

family representatives with lived experience with residential treatment

facility services, medical directors from residential treatment

facilities, and representatives from hospitals with pediatric inpatient

psychiatric beds, that is not operated by the state office of mental

health. Members of the advisory board shall be representative of the

racial, ethnic, and geographic diversity of the state. Such board shall

have the right to visit residential treatment facilities for children

and youth and shall have the right to review clinical records and shall

be bound by the confidentiality requirements of section 33.13 of this

chapter. The advisory board shall issue an annual report on the

disposition of applications for admission to residential treatment

facilities. Such report shall include, but not be limited to: the number

of children that applied to each residential treatment facility, the

number of children admitted to each residential treatment facility, the

number of children transferred from a hospital operated by the office of

mental health and subsequently transferred to another hospital, the

average length of stay for residents at each residential treatment

facility, the number of children served at each residential treatment

facility, and the number of involuntary placements and/or transfers from

office of mental health operated inpatient facilities which occur each

calendar year. Such annual report shall be posted on the office of

mental health's website and submitted to the governor, the speaker of

the assembly and the temporary president of the senate by March first

for the previous calendar year.

(d) Applications for admission or transfer of an individual to a

residential treatment facility for children and youth must document that

there has been an evaluation of the needs of the individual and a

determination of the individual's need for treatment in a residential

treatment facility for children and youth and the appropriateness of

such treatment. In the case of individuals who are applicants or

recipients of medical assistance pursuant to title eleven of article

five of the social services law, such determination shall also include

certification of need for residential treatment facility services in

accordance with this section. Where certification is required, an

individual will be certified for admission if:

(1) Available ambulatory care resources and other residential

placements do not meet the treatment needs of the individual;

(2) Proper treatment of the individual's psychiatric condition

requires in-patient care and treatment under the direction of a

physician; and

(3) Care and treatment in a residential treatment facility for

children and youth can reasonably be expected to improve the

individual's condition or prevent further regression so that services

will no longer be needed, provided that a poor prognosis shall not in

itself constitute grounds for a denial of certification if treatment can

be expected to effect a change in prognosis. Decisions to recommend

admission or priority admission shall occur in consultation with the

residential treatment facility and be based on a determination of

appropriateness including consideration of facility staffing, patient

mix and acuity and the impact on the safety of other residents. In the

event the office evaluates a child who is the subject of a proceeding

currently pending in the family court, the office shall report its

decision to the family court. Prior to admission and no sooner than

fourteen days after admission, the office or its designee may evaluate

the medical necessity and quality of services for each Medicaid member.

If the office or its designee determines that residential treatment

services are no longer appropriate, the determination of the office or

its designee shall be reported to the facility and the person, or the

person's legally authorized representative. Such determination shall not

be effective retroactively.

No residential treatment facility for children and youth shall admit a

person who has not been determined appropriate and where appropriate,

certified for such admission. Residential treatment facilities shall

admit individuals who have been designated as priority admissions by the

office or commissioner's designee.

(e) Notwithstanding any inconsistent provision of law, no government

agency shall make payments pursuant to title nineteen of the federal

social security act or articles five and six of the social services law

to a residential treatment facility for children and youth for service

to a person whose need for care and treatment in such a facility was not

certified pursuant to this section.

(f) No person shall be admitted to a residential treatment facility

for children and youth who has a mental illness which presents a

likelihood of serious harm to others; "likelihood of serious harm" shall

mean a substantial risk of physical harm to other persons as manifested

by recent homicidal or other violent behavior by which others are placed

in reasonable fear of serious physical harm.

(g) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the office or

commissioner's designee shall be entitled to review clinical records

maintained by any person or entity which pertain to an individual on

whose behalf an application is made for admission to a residential

treatment facility for children and youth. Any clinical records received

by the office or commissioner's designee shall be kept confidential in

accordance with the provisions of section 33.13 of this chapter.

Confidentiality of clinical records of treatment of a person in a

residential treatment facility for children and youth shall be

maintained as required in section 33.13 of this chapter. That portion of

the clinical record maintained by a residential treatment facility for

children and youth operated by an authorized agency specifically related

to medical care and treatment shall not be considered part of the record

required to be maintained by such authorized agency pursuant to section

three hundred seventy-two of the social services law and shall not be

discoverable in a proceeding under section three hundred fifty-eight-a

of the social services law or article ten-A of the family court act

except upon order of the family court; provided, however, that all other

information required by a local social services district or the office

of children and family services for purposes of sections three hundred

fifty-eight-a, four hundred nine-e and four hundred nine-f of the social

services law and article ten-A of the family court act shall be

furnished on request, and the confidentiality of such information shall

be safeguarded as provided in section four hundred sixty-e of the social

services law.