5119.62 Mental health risk fund.
5119.62 Mental health risk fund.
(A) Upon approving the plan submitted pursuant to section 340.03 of the Revised Code, the director of mental health shall authorize the payment of funds to a board of alcohol, drug addiction, and mental health services from funds appropriated for such purpose by the general assembly. The director shall release all or part of such funds as is consistent with this section, other state and federal laws, rules, and regulations, and the approved plan.
(B)(1) The director, in consultation with relevant constituencies as required by division (A)(11) of section 5119.06 of the Revised Code, shall establish a formula for allocating to boards of alcohol, drug addiction, and mental health services appropriations from the general revenue fund for the purpose of local management of mental health services as this purpose is identified in appropriations to the department of mental health in appropriation acts. The formula shall include as a factor the number of severely mentally disabled persons residing in each alcohol, drug addiction, and mental health service district and may include other factors, including, but not limited to, the historical utilization of public hospitals by persons in each service district. The appropriations shall be allocated to each board in accordance with the formula but shall be distributed only to those boards that elect the option provided under division (B)(3)(a) of this section.
(2) The director shall allocate each fiscal year to boards of alcohol, drug addiction, and mental health services for services to severely mentally disabled persons a percentage of the appropriations to the department from the general revenue fund for the purposes of hospital personal services, hospital maintenance, and hospital equipment as those purposes are identified in appropriations to the department in appropriation acts. After excluding funds for providing services to persons committed to the department pursuant to section 2945.38, 2945.39, 2945.40, 2945.401, 2945.402, or 5139.08 of the Revised Code, the percentage of those appropriations so allocated each year shall equal ten per cent in fiscal year 1990, twenty per cent in fiscal year 1991, forty per cent in fiscal year 1992, sixty per cent in fiscal year 1993, eighty per cent in fiscal year 1994, and one hundred per cent in fiscal year 1995 and thereafter. The amounts so allocated shall be transferred from the appropriations for the purposes of hospital personal services, hospital maintenance, and hospital equipment and credited to appropriations for the purpose of local management of mental health services. Appropriations for the purpose of local management of mental health services may be used by the department and by the boards.
(3) No later than the first day of April of each year, the department of mental health shall notify each board of alcohol, drug addiction, and mental health services of the department’s estimate of the amount of general revenue funds to be allocated to the board under division (D) of this section during the fiscal year beginning on the next July first. No later than the first day of May of each year, each board shall notify the director as to which of the following options it has elected for that fiscal year:
(a) The board elects to accept distribution of the amount allocated to it under division (B)(1) of this section. Any board that makes such an election shall agree to make payments into the risk fund established in division (E) of this section, to make any payments for utilization of state hospitals that are required under division (E)(3) of this section, to use the funds distributed to it within the limitations set forth in division (B)(2) of this section, and to provide the department with a statement of projected utilization of state hospitals and other state-operated services by residents of its service district during the fiscal year.
The department shall retain and expend the funds projected to be utilized for state hospitals and other state-operated services. Funds distributed to each board shall be used to supplement and not to supplant other state, local, or federal funds that are being used to support community-based programs for severely mentally disabled children, adolescents, and adults, unless the funds have been specifically designated for the initiation of programs in accordance with the community mental health plan developed and submitted under section 340.03 and approved under section 5119.61 of the Revised Code. Notwithstanding section 131.33 of the Revised Code, any board may expend unexpended funds distributed to the board from appropriations for the purpose of local management of mental health services in the fiscal year following the fiscal year in which the appropriations are made, in accordance with the community mental health plan.
(b) The board elects not to accept the amount allocated to it under division (B)(1) of this section, authorizes the department to determine the use of its allocation, and agrees to provide the department with a statement of projected utilization of state hospitals and other state-operated services by residents of its service district during the fiscal year.
(4) Beginning with the notification required to be made by May 1, 1995, under division (B)(3) of this section, no board of alcohol, drug addiction, and mental health services shall elect the option in division (B)(3)(b) of this section unless one of the following applies:
(a) The total general revenue funds estimated by the department to be allocated to the board for the next fiscal year is reduced by a substantial amount, as defined in guidelines adopted by the director under division (B)(4) of this section, in comparison to the amount allocated for the current fiscal year, for reasons not related to performance;
(b) The amount of estimated general revenue funds to be allocated to the board is not reduced by a substantial amount but the board has experienced other circumstances specified in the guidelines adopted by the director under division (B)(4) of this section.
The director shall consult with boards of alcohol, drug addiction, and mental health services and other relevant constituencies to develop guidelines for determining what constitutes a substantial reduction of general revenue funds for the purpose of electing the option under division (B)(3)(b) of this section, and what other circumstances qualify a board to elect that option.
Beginning with the notification required to be made by May 1, 1995, under division (B)(3) of this section, no board shall notify the director that it elects the option under division (B)(3)(b) of this section unless it has conducted a public hearing on the issue no later than seven days before making the notification.
(C) Boards of alcohol, drug addiction, and mental health services and community mental health agencies shall not use state funds for the purpose of influencing employees with respect to unionization. As used in this division, “influencing” means discouraging employees from seeking collective bargaining representation or encouraging employees to decertify a recognized collective bargaining agent.
(D) The director shall develop, and review at least annually, a methodology, including the formula developed under division (B)(1) of this section, for distributing and allocating funds to boards. The methodology shall be consistent with state and federal law and regulations. A portion of the funds shall be distributed based on the ratio of the population of the district served by the board to the total population of the state as determined from the federal census or the most recent estimates produced by the United States census bureau’s federal state cooperative program for population program-series P-26 or the population estimates and projections program-series P-25, whichever is most recent.
(E)(1) There is hereby created in the state treasury the department of mental health risk fund, which shall receive payments from boards that have elected the option provided in division (B)(3)(a) of this section. All investment earnings of the fund shall be credited to the fund. Moneys in the fund shall be used for the following purposes:
(a) To assist boards that elect the option provided in division (B)(3)(a) of this section and that serve service districts in which the costs of utilization of state hospitals by residents in a fiscal year exceed the amount allocated to the district under the formula developed under division (B)(1) of this section. The department shall define such costs by unit and establish them annually after consultation with representatives of such boards.
(b) To make payments to boards that elect the option provided in division (B)(3)(a) of this section and that experience conditions of financial hardship, as determined by the director.
The director of mental health, in consultation with representatives of the boards, shall develop guidelines for the use of moneys in the risk fund.
(2) On or before the first day of April of each year, the department shall specify the percentage of the amount of money allocated under division (B)(1) of this section for distribution to boards subject to division (E) of this section that each such board is to transmit to the director of mental health for deposit in the risk fund for the following fiscal year. On or before the first day of August of each year, each such board shall transmit to the director for deposit to the credit of the risk fund the amount obtained by multiplying that percentage by the amount allocated for distribution to such boards.
(3) Whenever the costs of utilization of state hospitals by residents in a district served by a board subject to division (E) of this section exceed the amount allocated to the district under the formula, responsibility for payment of the excess costs shall be borne by the board of that district and the risk fund as follows:
(a) The board and the risk fund each are responsible for payment of one-half of any costs that exceed one hundred per cent of the amount allocated under the formula but do not exceed one hundred five per cent of that amount.
(b) The board is responsible for payment of one-fourth, and the risk fund responsible for three-fourths, of any costs that exceed one hundred five per cent of the amount allocated under the formula but do not exceed one hundred ten per cent of that amount.
(c) The risk fund is responsible for payment of any costs that exceed one hundred ten per cent of the amount allocated under the formula but do not exceed one hundred fifteen per cent of that amount.
(d) The board is responsible for payment of all costs that exceed one hundred fifteen per cent of the amount allocated under the formula.
(F) The department shall charge against the allocation made to a board under division (B)(1) of this section any unreimbursed costs for services provided by the department. This requirement is not affected by any election a board makes under division (B)(3) of this section.
Effective Date: 07-01-1997