House File 146 



                                       HOUSE FILE       
                                       BY  SMITH


    Passed House, Date               Passed Senate, Date             
    Vote:  Ayes        Nays           Vote:  Ayes        Nays         
                 Approved                            

                                      A BILL FOR

  1 An Act providing for establishment of a mental health
  2    professional shortage area program and providing an
  3    appropriation.
  4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:
  5 TLSB 1613HH 82
  6 jp/gg/14

PAG LIN



  1  1    Section 1.  NEW SECTION.  135.80  MENTAL HEALTH
  1  2 PROFESSIONAL SHORTAGE AREA PROGRAM.
  1  3    1.  For the purposes of this section, "mental health
  1  4 professional shortage areas" means geographic areas in this
  1  5 state that have been designated by the United States
  1  6 department of health and human services, health resources and
  1  7 services administration, bureau of health professionals, as
  1  8 having a shortage of mental health professionals.
  1  9    2.  The department shall establish and administer a mental
  1 10 health professional shortage area program in accordance with
  1 11 this section.  Implementation of the program shall be limited
  1 12 to the extent of the funding appropriated or otherwise made
  1 13 available for the program.
  1 14    3.  The program shall provide stipends to support medical
  1 15 director positions for community mental health centers and
  1 16 hospital psychiatric units that are located in mental health
  1 17 professional shortage areas.
  1 18    4.  The department shall consult with the dean of the
  1 19 university of Iowa college of medicine, or the dean's
  1 20 designee, in adopting rules to administer the program and to
  1 21 allocate stipends in a manner that will best utilize available
  1 22 funding and have the most impact in addressing shortage areas.
  1 23    5.  The department shall apply the rules in determining the
  1 24 number and amounts of stipends within the amount of funding
  1 25 available for the program for a fiscal year.
  1 26    6.  For each fiscal year in which funding is allocated by
  1 27 the program, the department shall report to the governor and
  1 28 general assembly summarizing the program's activities and the
  1 29 impact made to address the shortage of mental health
  1 30 professionals.
  1 31    Sec. 2.  MENTAL HEALTH PROFESSIONAL SHORTAGE AREA PROGRAM
  1 32 == APPROPRIATION.  There is appropriated from the general fund
  1 33 of the state to the department of public health for the fiscal
  1 34 year beginning July 1, 2007, and ending June 30, 2008, the
  1 35 following amount, or so much thereof as is necessary, to be
  2  1 used for the purposes designated:
  2  2    For the mental health professional shortage area program
  2  3 established pursuant to section 135.80, as enacted by this
  2  4 Act:
  2  5 .................................................. $    300,000
  2  6    Not more than 5 percent of the amount appropriated in this
  2  7 section shall be used for administrative costs associated with
  2  8 the program.
  2  9                           EXPLANATION
  2 10    This bill directs the department of public health to
  2 11 establish a mental health professional shortage area program.
  2 12 The term "mental health professional shortage areas" is
  2 13 defined as geographic areas that have been designated by the
  2 14 United States department of health and human services, health
  2 15 resources and services administration, bureau of health
  2 16 professionals, as having a shortage of mental health
  2 17 professionals.
  2 18    The purpose of the program is to provide stipends to
  2 19 support medical director positions for community mental health
  2 20 centers and hospital psychiatric units that are located in the
  2 21 designated shortage areas.
  2 22    The department is required to consult with the dean of the
  2 23 university of Iowa college of medicine, or the dean's
  2 24 designee, in adopting rules for administering the program and
  2 25 allocating stipends.
  2 26    Implementation of the program is limited to the funding
  2 27 appropriated or made available for the program.  The
  2 28 department is required to report to the governor and general
  2 29 assembly for each fiscal year in which funding is allocated
  2 30 from the program.  The bill provides an appropriation for the
  2 31 program for fiscal year 2007=2008.
  2 32 LSB 1613HH 82
  2 33 jp:nh/gg/14