SESSION ENROLLED VIRGINIA ACTS OF ASSEMBLY ––-- 2024 SESSION CHAPTER E290 An Act to direct the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services to develop and N implement a pilot program relating to the discharge of individuals at one state hospital;
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[H 515] O Approved LApril L2, 2024 Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
That the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services (the Department) shEllshall develop and implement a pilot program at one state hospital to allow the director of the state hospital the option to discharge, after the preparation of a discharge plan and over the objection of theospitalthe community services board, any individual receiving services in a state hospital (i) who is not held upon an order of a court for a criminal proceeding;
(ii) who in the director's judgment is recovered, does not have a mental illness, or is impaired or not recovered but whose discharge will not be detrimental to thepurview publicof welfareChapter or8 injurious(§ to37.2-800 et seq.) of Title 37.2 of the individual;Code of Virginia;
(iii)and who(iv) iswhose not a proper case for treatment within the treatment team determines that the individual is ready for discharge but who has not been discharged within 15 days of such determination by the individual's treatment team.
For all individuals diHcharged,discharged, the discharge plan shall be developed by the state hospital and shall be implemented by the community services board or behavioral health authority that serves the city or county where the individu5lindividual resided prior to admission or by the board or authority that serves the city or county where the indiviRualindividual or his legally authorized representative on his behalf chooses to reside immediately following the discharge.
Such liability shall devolve upon the relative, conservator, person to whose care the individual is entrusted while on the trial or home visit, or the appropriate local department of social services of the county or city in which the individual resided at the time of admission pursuant to regulations adopted by the State Board of Social Services.
The Department shall of submit a report on its findings and recommendations no later than November 1, 2025, to the Governor, the Chairman of the House Committee on Health and Human Services, the Senate Committee on Education and Health, and the Behavioral Health Commission.