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Please see http://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov for the production version.
Analysis by the Legislative Reference Bureau
This bill combines the child psychiatry consultation program with additional
services into a new mental health consultation program. Currently, the child
psychiatry consultation program assists participating clinicians in providing care to
children with mental health care needs and provides referral support and additional
services. The 2019 biennial budget act requires the Department of Health Services
to convene interested persons, including the Medical College of Wisconsin, to develop
a plan and standards for a comprehensive mental health consultation program
incorporating various psychiatry specialties, including addiction medicine; a
perinatal psychiatry consultation program; and the child psychiatry consultation
program. This requirement from the 2019 biennial budget act is eliminated in the
bill along with the separate child psychiatry consultation program. The addiction
medicine consultation program currently assists participating clinicians in
providing care to patients with substance use addiction and provides referral
support and additional services, and the bill retains the addiction medicine
consultation program as a separate program.
The bill requires an organization to administer a mental health consultation
program (MHCP) that incorporates a comprehensive set of mental health

consultation services and may include perinatal, child, adult, geriatric, pain,
veteran, and general mental health consultation services. Under the bill, the
organization that currently administers the child psychiatry consultation program
must administer the MHCP. The organization may contract with any other entity
to perform any operations and satisfy any requirements of the MHCP. The
organization must do all of the following: ensure that mental health providers
providing services through the MHCP have the appropriate credentials as described
in the bill, maintain infrastructure to provide services statewide on every weekday,
provide consultation services as promptly as practicable, report to DHS any
information DHS requires, conduct surveys of participating clinicians as described
in the bill, and provide certain specified services. Those specified services are the
following: support for clinicians participating in MHCP to assist in the management
of mental health problems; triage-level assessments to determine the most
appropriate response; diagnostics and therapeutic feedback when medically
appropriate; and recruitment of other practices to a provider's services. The MHCP
must be able to provide consultation services by telephone and electronic mail but
may also provide services by other means. In addition to the services required in the
bill, which are eligible for funding by DHS, the organization may provide any of the
services specified in the bill that are eligible for funding by DHS.
For further information see the state fiscal estimate, which will be printed as
an appendix to this bill.
The people of the state of Wisconsin, represented in senate and assembly, do
enact as follows:
SB916,1 1Section 1. 20.005 (3) (schedule) of the statutes: at the appropriate place, insert
2the following amounts for the purposes indicated: - See PDF for table PDF
SB916,2 3Section 2. 20.435 (5) (bw) of the statutes is amended to read:
SB916,3,34 20.435 (5) (bw) Child psychiatry and addiction medicine consultation
5programs Mental health consultation. Biennially, the amounts in the schedule for

1operating the child psychiatry consultation program under s. 51.442 and the
2addiction medicine consultation program under s. 51.448
mental health consultation
3program under s. 51.443
.
SB916,3 4Section 3. 20.435 (5) (bx) of the statutes is created to read:
SB916,3,75 20.435 (5) (bx) Addiction medicine consultation program. Biennially, the
6amounts in the schedule for operating the addiction medicine consultation program
7under s. 51.448.
SB916,4 8Section 4 . 20.435 (5) (ct) of the statutes is repealed.
SB916,5 9Section 5. 51.441 of the statutes is repealed.
SB916,6 10Section 6. 51.442 of the statutes is repealed.
SB916,7 11Section 7. 51.443 of the statutes is created to read:
SB916,3,12 1251.443 Mental health consultation program. (1) In this section:
SB916,3,1513 (a) “Organization” means the organization that provided consultation services
14through the child psychiatry consultation program under s. 51.442, 2019 stats., as
15of July 1, 2021.
SB916,3,1816 (b) “Participating clinicians” include physicians, nurse practitioners, physician
17assistants, and medically appropriate members of the care teams of physicians,
18nurse practitioners, and physician assistants.
SB916,3,2019 (c) “Program” means the mental health consultation program under this
20section.
SB916,3,25 21(2) The organization shall administer a mental health consultation program
22that incorporates a comprehensive set of mental health consultation services, which
23may include perinatal, child, adult, geriatric, pain, veteran, and general mental
24health consultation services, and may contract with any other entity to perform any
25operations and satisfy any requirements under this section for the program.
SB916,4,2
1(3) As a condition of providing services through the program, the organization
2shall do all of the following:
SB916,4,103 (a) Ensure that all mental health care providers who are providing services
4through the program have the applicable credential from this state; if a psychiatric
5professional, that the provider is eligible for certification or is certified by the
6American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology for adult psychiatry, child and
7adolescent psychiatry, or both; and if a psychologist, that the provider is registered
8in a professional organization, including the American Psychological Association,
9National Register of Health Service Psychologists, Association for Psychological
10Science, or the National Alliance of Professional Psychology Providers.
SB916,4,1211 (b) Maintain the infrastructure necessary to provide the program's services
12statewide.
SB916,4,1413 (c) Operate the program on weekdays during normal business hours of 8 a.m.
14to 5 p.m.
SB916,4,1615 (d) Provide consultation services under the program as promptly as is
16practicable.
SB916,4,2017 (e) Have the capability to provide consultation services by, at a minimum,
18telephone and electronic mail. Consultation through the program may be provided
19by teleconference, video conference, voice over Internet protocol, electronic mail,
20pager, in-person conference, or any other telecommunication or electronic means.
SB916,4,2121 (f) Provide all of the following services through the program:
SB916,4,2322 1. Support for participating clinicians to assist in the management of mental
23health concerns.
SB916,5,3
12. Triage-level assessments to determine the most appropriate response to
2each request, including appropriate referrals to any community providers and
3health systems.
SB916,5,44 3. When medically appropriate, diagnostics and therapeutic feedback.
SB916,5,65 4. Recruitment of other clinicians into the program as participating clinicians
6when possible.
SB916,5,77 (g) Report to the department any information requested by the department.
SB916,5,168 (h) Conduct annual surveys of participating clinicians who use the program to
9assess the quality of care provided, self-perceived levels of confidence in providing
10mental health services, and satisfaction with the consultations and other services
11provided through the program. Immediately after participating clinicians begin
12using the program and again 6 to 12 months later, the organization may conduct
13assessments of participating clinicians to assess the barriers to and benefits of
14participation in the program to make future improvements and to determine the
15participating clinicians' treatment abilities, confidence, and awareness of relevant
16resources before and after beginning to use the program.
SB916,5,19 17(4) Services provided under sub. (3) (b) to (h) are eligible for funding from the
18department. The organization also may provide any of the following services under
19the program that are eligible for funding from the department:
SB916,5,2220 (a) Second opinion diagnostic and medication management evaluations and
21community resource referrals conducted by either a psychiatrist or allied health
22professionals.
SB916,5,2523 (b) In-person or Internet site-based educational seminars and refresher
24courses on a medically appropriate topic within mental or behavioral health care
25provided to any participating clinician who uses the program.
SB916,6,1
1(c) Data evaluation and assessment of the program.
SB916,8 2Section 8. 51.445 (3) of the statutes is amended to read:
SB916,6,93 51.445 (3) The department shall provide moneys in the amount of $175,000 in
4each fiscal year in, at least, fiscal years 2020-21 and 2021-22 to an organization that
5provided consultation services through the child psychiatry consultation program
6under s. 51.442, 2019 stats., as of January 1, 2019, and the organization shall provide
7consultation services through the consultation pilot program under this section in
8Outagamie County in a manner that maximizes medically appropriate access and
9services as described under sub. (4).
SB916,9 10Section 9. Fiscal changes.
SB916,6,1411 (1) Mental health consultation program. In the schedule under s. 20.005 (3)
12for the appropriation to the department of health services under s. 20.435 (5) (bw),
13the dollar amount for fiscal year 2022-23 is increased by $2,000,000 to fund the
14mental health consultation program under s. 51.443.
SB916,6,1915 (2) Addiction medicine consultation program. In the schedule under s. 20.005
16(3) for the appropriation to the department of health services under s. 20.435 (5) (bw),
17the dollar amount for fiscal year 2022-23 is decreased by $500,000 to reflect that
18expenditures for the addiction medicine consultation program are being paid from
19a different appropriation.
SB916,6,2020 (End)
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