HB19: HB19 Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities, Department of; create and maintain electronic inpatient psychiatric bed registry; require

Right now there is no statewide, real-time way to see which psychiatric facilities in Georgia have open inpatient beds. HB19, called the 'Mental Health Availability and Access Act,' would direct the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities to create and run a web based registry showing available beds by patient gender, acuteness, age, and diagnosis. The department could hire a private contractor to build and run it. Psychiatric facilities and other designated providers would have to report their open bed counts to the department close to real time. The registry would be open to health plans, community mental health programs, hospitals, and caregivers. An advisory committee with representatives from the department, health plans, facilities, law enforcement, and families would guide how it works, and the department would send quarterly progress reports to legislative health committees starting October 1, 2025. The department must also share registry data with the operator of the Georgia Crisis and Access Line.

• Requires the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities to create and maintain a statewide electronic registry of open inpatient psychiatric beds.
• Allows the department to contract with a private company to build and run the registry instead of doing it in house.
• Requires psychiatric facilities and other designated providers to report their available bed counts to the department in close to real time.
• Opens registry access to health plans, community mental health programs, hospitals, and caregivers, not just government agencies.
• Creates an advisory committee of facilities, health plans, law enforcement, and families to guide how the registry operates.
• Requires quarterly progress reports to four legislative health committees starting October 1, 2025, and requires sharing registry data with the Georgia Crisis and Access Line operator.

Psychiatric facilities and other mental health providers, who must report bed data; the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities and the Department of Community Health; health plans and community mental health programs that would use the registry; law enforcement, families, and advocates on the advisory committee; and the operator of the Georgia Crisis and Access Line.

Families, hospitals, and crisis responders trying to place someone in psychiatric care would gain a single online tool to see which facilities have open beds, potentially speeding up placement during mental health emergencies instead of relying on phone calls to individual facilities.

• Section 1 names the bill the 'Mental Health Availability and Access Act.'
• Section 2 adds new Code Section 37-3-9, defining 'psychiatric facility' and 'registry' and requiring the department to build a web based bed registry sorted by gender, acuteness, age, and diagnosis.
• Subsection (b) lets the department delegate registry operation to a private contractor.
• Subsection (c) requires psychiatric facilities and designated providers to report available bed counts in close to real time.
• Subsection (d) makes the registry accessible to health plans, hospitals, community mental health programs, and caregivers.
• Subsection (e) creates an advisory committee including the department, Department of Community Health, facilities, end users, families, and law enforcement.
• Subsection (g) requires quarterly progress reports to House and Senate health committees beginning October 1, 2025.
• Subsection (i) requires the department to share all registry data with the Georgia Crisis and Access Line operator.

1. 2025-02-11House Withdrawn Bill/Res Consideration (House)
2. 2025-01-15House Second Readers (House)
3. 2025-01-14House First Readers (House)
4. 2025-01-13House Hopper (House)

• Sandra Scott (D, HD-076)Primary sponsor
• Kim Schofield (D, HD-063)
• Viola Davis (D, HD-087)

• mental health care
• psychiatric beds
• behavioral health policy
• health data registry
• crisis response