Raises the age of eligibility for mobile response and stabilization services from eighteen (18) to twenty-one (21) and establishes a minimum rate for commercial health insurance reimbursement for such services.

Plain-English Summary

This bill would expand access to mobile response and stabilization services for young people in Rhode Island. Currently, these services — which involve trained teams going directly to a person in a mental health or behavioral health crisis, rather than sending police or requiring a hospital visit — are available to children and teenagers up to age 18. This bill would raise that age limit to 21, meaning young adults between 18 and 21 would also be eligible to receive this kind of in-person crisis support.

The bill also addresses how these services are paid for. It would set a minimum reimbursement rate that commercial health insurance companies must pay for mobile response and stabilization services. This means insurance companies would be required to pay at least a certain amount when covering these services, which is intended to ensure that providers can afford to offer them and that patients aren't left with large out-of-pocket costs.

The people most directly affected are young adults ages 18 to 21 who experience mental health or behavioral health crises, as well as the organizations and providers who deliver mobile crisis services. Health insurance companies operating in Rhode Island would also be affected, since they would be required to meet the new minimum payment standard.

As of now, the bill has been referred to the House Health & Human Services Committee and was recommended to be held for further study, meaning it has not yet been voted on or signed into law.