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Official Code of Georgia Annotated

Title 37. MENTAL HEALTH · Chapter 3. EXAMINATION, TREATMENT, ETC., FOR MENTAL ILLNESS · Article 7. ADULT RESIDENTIAL MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES LICENSING

37-3-202. Definitions.

Active2 versions printed

Current through: Including Acts of the 2025 Regular Session of the General Assembly.

Effective January 1, 2026.In force today: Effective January 1, 2026.
  1. As used in this article, the term:

  2. (1)

    “Adult residential mental health program” means a subacute residential alternative service of four or more residential beds authorized to provide psychiatric services for mentally ill persons 18 years of age or older that operates 24 hours per day, 7 days per week to provide intensive short-term noninstitutional treatment to individuals who are temporarily in need of a 24-hour-per-day supportive therapeutic setting for prevention of or transition from or after acute psychiatric hospitalization. Such term shall not include crisis stabilization units, as defined in Code Section 37-1-29; community living arrangements, as defined in Code Section 37-13-1; mental health programs conducted by accountability courts; or residential beds operated by a state or local public entity.#

  3. (2)

    “Applicant” means any individual affiliated with a partnership, corporation, association, or individuals or groups of individuals submitting an application to operate an adult residential mental health program under this article.#

  4. (3)

    “Department” means the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities.#

  5. (4)

    “Governing body” means the partnership, corporation, limited liability company, association, or person or group of persons who maintains and controls the adult residential mental health program and who is legally responsible for its operation.#

  6. (5)

    “License” means the official permit issued by the department which authorizes the holder to operate an adult residential mental health program.#

  7. (6)

    “Licensee” means any person holding a license issued by the department under this article.#

  8. (7)

    “Mentally ill person” means a person who has significant deficits in functioning affecting social and family relationships, work, self-care, educational goals, or legal involvements due to his or her primary diagnosis or assessment of a psychotic disorder, mood disorder, anxiety disorder, dissociative disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, adjustment disorder, personality disorder, or trauma and stress related disorder as listed in the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) or the World Health Organization’s International Classification of Diseases, in effect as of July 1, 2022, or as the department may further define such term by rule and regulation.#

Reading note: a word broken across two lines in the printed volume was joined by rule and could not be checked against the volume's own vocabulary. The official page linked below settles any doubt.

The notes below are printed with the section but are not enacted law (O.C.G.A. § 1-1-1(c)). They are shown apart from the text.

History

Code 1981, § 37-3-202, enacted by Ga. L. 2022, p. 587, § 1/HB 1069; Ga. L. 2025, p. 177, § 3-2/HB 584, effective January 1, 2026.

Delayed effective date

Code Section 37-3-202 is set out twice in this Code. This version is effective January 1, 2026. For version effective until January 1, 2026, see the preceding version.

Amendments

The 2025 amendment, effective January 1, 2026, in paragraph (1), substituted “as defined in Code Section 37-13-1” for “as defined by the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities” in the last sentence; and, in paragraph (3), substituted “Department of Behavioral Health and Development Disabilities.” for “Department of Community Health.”

Read the official page (the state's PDF, opened at the page this text was read from).

Current through: Including Acts of the 2025 Regular Session of the General Assembly.

Text read from t37-t39-(v28)-pdf.pdf, Volume V28, 2021 edition, 2025 supplement, pages 84 to 86; merge action: added; file SHA-256 6e7899178423.

Effective until January 1, 2026.No longer in force as printed (Effective until January 1, 2026.)
  1. As used in this article, the term:

  2. (1)

    “Adult residential mental health program” means a subacute residential alternative service of four or more residential beds authorized to provide psychiatric services for mentally ill persons 18 years of age or older that operates 24 hours per day, 7 days per week to provide intensive short-term noninstitutional treatment to individuals who are temporarily in need of a 24-hour-per-day supportive therapeutic setting for prevention of or transition from or after acute psychiatric hospitalization. Such term shall not include crisis stabilization units, as defined in Code Section 37-1-29; community living arrangements, as defined by the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities; mental health programs conducted by accountability courts; or residential beds operated by a state or local public entity.#

  3. (2)

    “Applicant” means any individual affiliated with a partnership, corporation, association, or individuals or groups of individuals submitting an application to operate an adult residential mental health program under this article.#

  4. (3)

    “Department” means the Department of Community Health.#

  5. (4)

    “Governing body” means the partnership, corporation, limited liability company, association, or person or group of persons who maintains and controls the adult residential mental health program and who is legally responsible for its operation.#

  6. (5)

    “License” means the official permit issued by the department which authorizes the holder to operate an adult residential mental health program.#

  7. (6)

    “Licensee” means any person holding a license issued by the department under this article.#

  8. (7)

    “Mentally ill person” means a person who has significant deficits in functioning affecting social and family relationships, work, self-care, educational goals, or legal involvements due to his or her primary diagnosis or assessment of a psychotic disorder, mood disorder, anxiety disorder, dissociative disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, adjustment disorder, personality disorder, or trauma and stress related disorder as listed in the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) or the World Health Organization’s International Classification of Diseases, in effect as of July 1, 2022, or as the department may further define such term by rule and regulation.#

Reading note: a word broken across two lines in the printed volume was joined by rule and could not be checked against the volume's own vocabulary. The official page linked below settles any doubt.

The notes below are printed with the section but are not enacted law (O.C.G.A. § 1-1-1(c)). They are shown apart from the text.

History

Code 1981, § 37-3-202, enacted by Ga. L. 2022, p. 587, § 1/HB 1069.

Delayed effective date

Code Section 37-3-202 is set out twice in this Code. This version is effective until January 1, 2026. For version effective January 1, 2026, see the following version.

Read the official page (the state's PDF, opened at the page this text was read from).

Current through: Including Acts of the 2025 Regular Session of the General Assembly.

Text read from t37-t39-(v28)-pdf.pdf, Volume V28, 2021 edition, 2025 supplement, pages 83 to 84; merge action: added; file SHA-256 6e7899178423.