H.B. 1761 Summary

• Establishes the Emergency Department Homelessness Assessment Pilot Program administered by the Department of Health to place multidisciplinary teams in hospital emergency departments.

• Multidisciplinary teams consisting of physicians, advanced practice registered nurses, social workers, social worker designees, and patient navigators shall identify patients experiencing or at risk for homelessness and provide individualized assessments and referrals to appropriate social services.

• Participating hospitals must submit qualitative and quantitative data to the Department of Health to demonstrate correlation between multidisciplinary team interventions and repeated emergency department use by homeless patients.

• Department of Health shall submit a report to the legislature prior to the 2019 regular session with findings, recommendations, and proposed legislation regarding program continuation, modification, or termination.

• Pilot program terminates June 30, 2019; state appropriation to be matched dollar-for-dollar by participating hospitals for program expenses.