Drafter
Clerk 04/01/2016
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A MOTION acknowledging receipt of the executive's report, Involuntary Treatment Act (ITA) Court Access: Ambulance Transportation and Video Hearings, addressing the options available to the county to continue the practice of transporting individuals from evaluation and treatment facilities to Involuntary Treatment Act court in the Ninth and Jefferson Building on the Harborview Medical Center campus and on county expenditures related to video appearances for ITA court respondents, in compliance with the 2015/2016 Biennial Budget Ordinance, Ordinance 17941, Section 61, as amended by Ordinance 18178, Section 2, Proviso P1.
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WHEREAS, case filings in King County's Involuntary Treatment Act court ("ITA court") have increased by eighty-four percent between 2006 and 2015, and
WHEREAS, ITA court caseload growth translates to increased demands for staff, judicial officers, space and other needs, and directly impacts resources available for crisis services, inpatient care, and flexible alternative treatment in the community, and
WHEREAS, community and inpatient mental health resources are scarce, while the treatment need is very high, the population is growing quickly and laws have changed in recent years to increase the likelihood of involuntary detention, and
WHEREAS, King County and the governor and executive's Community Alternatives to Boarding Task Force ("CABTF"), including participants representing the ITA court, are working to reduce demand for involuntary care and ITA court services over the long term by designing recommendations to support the development of a comprehensive service continuum that results in improved behavioral health care throughout the treatment system and across the population,
WHEREAS, despite the positive system impacts of the CABTF and others working to address the number of involuntary commitment cases, an inpatient psychiatric care access crisis remains, and
WHEREAS, in response to decisions by King County superior court, video hearings are increasingly utilized by the ITA court and King County's evaluation and treatment facilities, and
WHEREAS, the 2015/2016 Biennial Budget Ordinance, Ordinance 17941, as amended by Ordinance 18178, Section 2, Proviso P1, directs the executive to provide a report on the options available to the county to continue the practice of transporting individuals from evaluation and treatment facilities to the ITA Court in the Ninth and Jefferson Building on the Harborview Medical Center campus and on expenditures related to video appearances for ITA court respondents, and to submit a motion to acknowledge the report to release $100,000 upon passage of the motion, and
WHEREAS, the report includes an analysis of the feasibility of the county contracting directly with an ambulance provider for transport of individuals from evaluation and treatment facilities to ITA court and the ability of the county to seek reimbursement from the state for such transport, and
WHEREAS, the report includes a description of the support the county is providing evaluation and treatment facilities to aid in developing, expanding and maintaining video appearance capabilities at such facilities, including an estimate of savings to evaluation and treatment facilities associated with not transporting patients appearing by video;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT MOVED by the Council of King County:
The receipt of the report, Involuntary Treatment Act (ITA) Court Access: Ambulance Transportation and Video Hearings, Attachment A to this motion, addressing the options available to the county to continue the practice of transporting individuals from evaluation and treatment facilities to Involuntary Treatment Act court in the Ninth and Jefferson Building on the Harborview Medical Center campus and on county
expenditures related to video appearances for Involuntary Treatment Act court respondents, is hereby acknowledged.