Iowa law sets deadlines and reviews for subacute mental health care

A subacute care facility must develop an initial treatment plan with a resident. This applies to a resident admitted to a subacute care facility. The plan must be developed within 24 hours after admission.

The department or the managed care organization responsible for a person's medical assistance must decide prior approval requests for subacute mental health care. This applies to requests for a person's subacute mental health care when the department or a managed care organization administers that person's medical assistance. A mental health professional must submit the request electronically through the health department's designated internet portal. The request must seek insurance coverage for subacute mental health care under chapter 249A or 249N. The deadline starts when the request is received: 48 hours for an urgent request, five calendar days for a nonurgent request, or 10 calendar days for a complex or unique nonurgent request.

The health department must establish an electronic system to track available beds. The system must track beds at each psychiatric medical institution for children.

The inspections department and the health department must review and modify their rules for subacute mental health care facilities and services. The review covers the departments' rules adopted under section 135G.10 and their effect on subacute care facilities and services. They must remove a rule they find hinders opening or expanding services, or making them easier to access, unless the rule provides an equal or greater benefit. Job requirements at a subacute facility must be less strict than requirements for the same job at a state mental health institute.

The health department must review service capacity and report its findings, and may provide subacute services at the Independence institute if the director makes the required budget determination. The review concerns subacute mental health care and additional psychiatric inpatient services at the state mental health institute in Independence. The review must assess costs, bed capacity, staffing, needed building improvements, and reasonable timelines, and consider partnering with private operators. The department may provide subacute care there only if, after the review, the director determines that it can be provided within the department's budget. The department may continue until the legislature directs otherwise. The review is described as beginning July 1, 2027, and the report is due by January 4, 2027. The director's budget determination may be made on or after July 1, 2026.