51.036 Crisis urgent care and observation facilities.

548 words·~2 min read·/wi/chapter-51/51-036-2

A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.

(1)Definitions. In this section:

(a)“Crisis” means a situation caused by an individual’s apparent mental or substance use disorder that results in a high level of stress or anxiety for the individual, persons providing care for the individual, or the public and that is not resolved by the available coping methods of the individual or by the efforts of those providing ordinary care or support for the individual.

(b)“Crisis urgent care and observation facility” means a treatment facility that admits an individual to prevent, de-escalate, or treat the individual’s mental health or substance use disorder and includes the necessary structure and staff to support the individual’s needs relating to the mental health or substance use disorder.

(2)Certification required; exemption; grants.

(a)The department shall establish a certification process for crisis urgent care and observation facilities and a grant program to award grants to develop and support crisis urgent care and observation facilities. No person may operate a crisis urgent care and observation facility without a certification from the department. The department may make announced and unannounced inspections and complaint investigations of crisis urgent care and observation facilities as it deems necessary, at reasonable times and in a reasonable manner. The department may limit the number of certifications it grants to operate crisis urgent care and observation facilities. The department shall, using the department’s division of the state into regions by county, include statewide geographic consideration in its evaluation of applications for certification under this section to ensure geographic diversity among the regions in the location of crisis urgent care and observation facilities certified under this section.

1. A crisis urgent care and observation facility certified under this section is not subject to facility regulation under ch. 50 , unless otherwise required due to the facility’s licensure or certification for other services or purposes. A crisis urgent care and observation facility is not a hospital subject to approval under ss. 50.32 to 50.39 and nothing in this subsection limits services a hospital may provide under ch. 50 .

2. Notwithstanding par.

(d), the department shall promote certification and encourage any facility that is licensed as a hospital under ch. 50 and provides services consistent with those described in par.

(c)1. to 9. to apply for certification under this section. The requirements under this section may not be construed to prohibit, limit, or otherwise interfere with services provided by a county or a hospital or other facility that are provided consistent with the facility’s existing licensure or certification, whether the facility is publicly or privately funded.

3. Notwithstanding s. 150.93 , any hospital that expands psychiatric bed capacity to accommodate admissions under this section may increase its approved bed capacity by the number of psychiatric beds added under this subdivision.

4. The department shall take into account the geography of hospital facilities granted certification under subd. 2. when considering certification applications for other crisis urgent care and observation facilities.

(c)Subject to par.

(d), the department may grant a certification to a crisis urgent care and observation facility that specifies in an application the level of care the facility can provide to patients and demonstrates in the application its ability to do all of the following: