HB 24-1217 Summary

• The Behavioral Health Administration (BHA) must create a standardized "Friends and Family Input Form" by July 1, 2025, allowing family and friends to provide health and background information about patients receiving mental health or substance use services.

• Health care providers, facilities, and other covered entities may accept the form in writing, electronically, or verbally, and may share patient information with family and friends without consent only if the patient is incapacitated and the provider determines it is in the patient's best interest.

• Patients can prohibit disclosure of the form to other entities, and providers cannot be held liable for their actions or inactions in response to the form's information.

• The Office of E-Health Innovation must convene a working group by September 1, 2024, to evaluate the feasibility of creating a centralized digital consent repository allowing patients to manage consent for data sharing across providers, family, and state agencies, with findings due January 1, 2026.

• The bill appropriates $50,604 to the Department of Human Services ($18,599 for BHA staff and form development, $32,005 for legal services) for the 2024-25 fiscal year.