No. HB 1033
Filed under Housing.
Procedures for Discharging Persons to Avoid Homelessness; Encourages certain facilities & institutions, in collaboration with Continuum of Care lead agency, to develop & implement certain procedures for when persons are discharged from certain facilities or institutions; requires DCF to conduct pilot program in specified counties; requires DCF to submit certain reports to Governor & Legislature; revises certain procedures; defines "client level data"; requires sharing of client level data to comply with specified state & federal laws & regulations; requires Continuum of Care lead agency to evaluate certain procedures & identify gaps & opportunities for improvement in its annual Continuum of Care plan; authorizes State Office on Homelessness, in conjunction with Council on Homelessness, to provide guidance to Continuum of Care lead agency for specified purpose.
Plain English Summary
AI-GENERATEDThe Department of Children and Families must run a pilot program in Broward, Duval, Hillsborough, and Pinellas counties. This requires hospitals to connect discharged patients to housing resources.
Hospitals and other facilities must now ensure patients are connected to the Homeless Continuum of Care. This replaces the previous intent to simply encourage mental health facilities to avoid discharging people into homelessness.
Facilities must share detailed patient data with housing systems. This allows for coordinated care and ensures patients receive necessary support after leaving the facility.
The bill requires facilities to verify if a patient is registered with the Continuum of Care. If not, the facility must ensure the patient contacts a local referral hotline to register.
AICreates a binding duty for the Department of Children and Families to run a discharge-planning pilot in Broward, Duval, Hillsborough, and Pinellas counties, replacing the previous voluntary encouragement for all facilities.
AIConverts previously advisory guidelines into mandatory requirements for hospitals and inpatient medical facilities in the four pilot counties, requiring them to connect consenting patients to the Homeless Continuum of Care before discharge.
AIRequires facilities to enroll identified persons in the Homeless Management Information System or share medical and mental health data with their consent, subject to federal and state privacy laws.
AIRequires facilities to ensure that persons identified as homeless or at risk who are not registered in the HMIS contact the 211 call center to facilitate registration and referral to the Continuum of Care.
AIProhibits discharging a person to a receiving entity outside of that entity's normal operating hours, creating a new logistical constraint on facility discharge timing.
AIDeletes the prior statutory language that limited the section to recommending model guidelines that mental health facilities may consider, removing the explicit voluntary character of the provisions.