Common use of Access Standards Clause in Contracts

Access Standards. 1. The provider shall make available and accessible facilities, service sites, and personnel sufficient to provide the covered services (specifically non-hospital outpatient, emergency, and assessment services) throughout the geographic area, within thirty minutes typical travel time by public or private transportation of all enrolled recipients. (The typical travel time standard does not apply to waiting time for public transportation – it applies only to actual time in transit.) 2. The maximum amount of time between an enrollee’s request for mental health services and the first point of service shall be as follows (except when otherwise noted in specific sections of this document): a. For EMERGENCY mental health services, service shall be immediate. b. For persons initially perceived to need emergency mental health services, but upon assessment do not meet the criteria for emergency care, they are deemed to require URGENT crisis support, and services must be provided within twenty-three hours. c. For ROUTINE outpatient intake, an assessment shall be offered within seven calendar days. Follow-up services shall be offered within fourteen calendar days after the assessment. Requests for psychiatric medications and medication appointments shall be treated as a request for emergency services when a member is without necessary prescribed medications. Requests for appointments due to reports of non-emergent allergic reactions or serious side effects shall be treated as an urgent request for services. Routine medication appointments, such as for prescription renewals, shall be scheduled in a manner to avoid disruption in availability of necessary prescribed medications. Requests for medication appointments can be made by the member, the member’s responsible party, other mental health treatment providers, or persons coordinating care for the purpose of jail diversion or aftercare. 3. The provider shall operate, as part of its crisis support/emergency services, a 24-hour a day, 7 days a week, crisis emergency hot line to be available to all enrollees. 4. The provider shall provide a designated emergency service facility per county to ensure unrestricted access to emergency care on a 24 hours a day, 7 days a week basis. Such designated emergency service facility shall have 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, registered nurse coverage and on-call coverage by a mental health professional, as defined in, Chapter 394, Part I, F.S.