A bill that would require certain providers to screen patients for mental health conditions passed the Senate Health and Human Services committee Monday.
Senate Bill 1836, by Sen. Julia Kirt, D-Oklahoma City, and Rep. Josh West, R-Grove, applies to physicians, physician assistants, advanced practice registered nurses and osteopathic physicians who practice direct client care. The mandatory mental health screening instrument would be evidence-based and prescribed by the providers’ respective licensing boards.
Providers would have to deliver this screener to patients during or before a primary care visit at least once annually. The bill authors ran similar legislation last year, which stalled after making it out of committee.
SB 1836 is a priority of the Healthy Minds Policy Initiative, as mental health conditions can easily go undetected. Data cited by the organization in a policy fact sheet found 38% of people who attempted suicide had a health care visit in the week before their death, and 64% had a visit in the month before their attempt.
The group said this legislation would help detect symptoms early and connect patients to care before their condition worsens and treatment becomes more costly.
“When patients are regularly and universally screened, mental health symptoms get caught early, and providers have crucial opportunities to intervene when a patient is depressed, suicidal, or otherwise needs mental health support,” the group said.
The Oklahoma Health Care Authority estimates the fiscal impact of this measure is between $283,916 to $559,883.
“We anticipate insurance reimbursing for this activity, which is why it does have a fiscal impact for Medicaid, which is something we’re going to have to work through,” Kirt said.
“We anticipate that even avoiding one extended inpatient stay per year would cover that cost,” Kirt added.
Sen. Julie McIntosh, R-Porter, who is a family physician, asked if this would require impacted providers to spend patient contact time screening individuals with no risk factors.
Kirt said many of these screeners are incorporated into charts as patients enter.
“The hope is that it would not be an additional burden time-wise, but would be more information that the provider could use if needed,” Kirt said.
The bill moves to the Senate floor, with eight lawmakers in favor and four voting against it.