SB 17-019

Senate Bill 17-019 aims to improve mental health care for individuals with mental illnesses who are involved in Colorado's criminal and juvenile justice systems. It requires various state agencies, including the Office of Behavioral Health and Department of Corrections, to work together on a consistent medication formulary and share patient information securely. The bill also encourages cost-saving measures through cooperative purchasing of medications and mandates regular reporting on its implementation. Since it has been signed into law, these changes are now in effect and aim to better serve people with mental health disorders within the justice system.

Official Summary

Legislative Oversight Committee Concerning the Treatment of Persons with Mental Health Disorders in the Criminal and Juvenile Justice Systems. The bill implements recommendations from the task force concerning the treatment of persons with mental health disorders in the criminal and juvenile justice systems and the medication consistency work group of the behavioral health transformation council to promote increased medication consistency for persons with mental health disorders in the criminal and juvenile justice systems. The recommendations include: Requiring the office of behavioral health, in consultation with the department of corrections, to promulgate rules that require providers under each department's authority to use an agreed upon medication formulary (formulary) by mental health providers and justice system providers (providers); Requiring OBH to conduct annual and biannual reviews of the formulary to address any urgent concerns related to the formulary, update the formulary, and ensure compliance with the medicaid formulary; Requiring the department of corrections, county jails, community mental health centers, the division of youth corrections, and other providers to share patient-specific mental health care and treatment information, provided federal and state confidentiality requirements are met; Requiring OBH and relevant providers to develop a plan, on or before September 1, 2018, for electronically sharing patient-specific mental health care and treatment information across systems; Requiring OBH to encourage providers to utilize cooperative purchasing for the formulary to maximize statewide cost savings; Encouraging the pharmaceutical cooperative purchasing entity to include an ongoing drug utilization review process; Requiring OBH to investigate and develop options for collaboration with local county jails to coordinate medication purchasing. Based on that information, the behavioral health transformation council shall develop a medication purchasing plan on or before September 1, 2018; and Requiring the department of human services and the department of corrections to report progress on the implementation and use of the medication formulary and cooperative purchasing as part of each department's 'State Measurement for Accountable, Responsive, and Transparent (SMART) Government Act' hearing, beginning in January 2018 and annually thereafter.(Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)

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