AZ HB2491

Amends Arizona Revised Statutes Section 36-2936 to allow persons with psychiatric conditions to qualify for Arizona Long-Term Care System (ALTCS) institutional services, removing the prior requirement that only non-psychiatric conditions qualified.

Expands eligibility criteria so that psychiatric conditions, alone or combined with other medical conditions, can establish need for nursing facility or intermediate care facility level of care.

Requires preadmission screening assessments to evaluate applicants' functional, medical, nursing, social, developmental needs and "emotional and cognitive behaviors."

Maintains existing requirements that registered nurses or social workers conduct screenings with physician consultation, and that screenings be completed within eight days excluding weekends and holidays.

Preserves the ninety-day deadline for institutionalized individuals determined eligible under alternative functional screening to relocate from institutional to home and community-based settings.