Working with HASC and area hospitals, the Orange County Behavioral Health Department has approved new policies for managing involuntary 5150 patients in non-Lanterman-Petris-Short Act-designated facilities. 

Approved on Aug. 30, the policy allows for emergency department physicians, licensed clinical social workers, marriage and family therapists, registered nurses, psychologists, and psychiatrists to become “Designated Individuals” to write and/or release involuntary holds. The new policies provide additional tools for development of lower-cost staffing models in EDs, particularly for hospitals solely reliant on telepsychiatry and on-call psychiatrists.

The approach may serve as a model for other counties that face similar 5150 hold issues.

“HASC was instrumental in moving this issue forward in Orange County,” said Richard Afable, MD, a HASC board member and CEO at St. Joseph Hoag Health. “This demonstrates the capacity of the association doing some of what it does best.”

Policies 4.03.02, 4.03.03, and 4.03.04 may be accessed online here: http://www.ochealthinfo.com/bhs/pnp   

Contact:
Whitney Ayers 
(714) 663-0294
wayers@hasc.org