1.1 	A bill for an act
1.2 	relating to human services; modifying provisions related to mental health services; 
1.3 	modifying the definition of mental health practitioner;amending Minnesota Statutes 
1.4 	2016, sections 245.4712, subdivision 2; 245.4871, subdivision 26; 245.8261, 
1.5 	subdivision 4; 256B.0943, subdivisions 1, 9, 13.
1.6 	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:

1.7 	Section 1. Minnesota Statutes 2016, section 245.4712, subdivision 2, is amended to read:
1.8 		Subd. 2.Day treatment services provided. (a) Day treatment services must be developed 
1.9 	as a part of the community support services available to adults with serious and persistent 
1.10 	mental illness residing in the county. Adults may be required to pay a fee according to 
1.11 	section 245.481. Day treatment services must be designed to:
1.12 	(1) provide a structured environment for treatment;
1.13 	(2) provide support for residing in the community;
1.14 	(3) prevent placement in settings that are more intensive, costly, or restrictive than 
1.15 	necessary and appropriate to meet client need;
1.16 	(4) coordinate with or be offered in conjunction with a local education agency's special 
1.17 	education program; and
1.18 	(5) operate on a continuous basis throughout the year.
1.19 	(b) For purposes of complying with medical assistance requirements, an adult day 
1.20 	treatment program must comply with the method of clinical supervision specified in 
1.21 	Minnesota Rules, part 9505.0371, subpart 4. The clinical supervision must be performed 
1.22 	by a qualified supervisor who satisfies the requirements of Minnesota Rules, part 9505.0371, 
2.1 	subpart 5, except that 2,000 hours of supervised experience is not required for day treatment 
2.2 	services.
2.3 	A day treatment program must demonstrate compliance with this clinical supervision 
2.4 	requirement by the commissioner's review and approval of the program according to 
2.5 	Minnesota Rules, part 9505.0372, subpart 8.
2.6 	(c) County boards may request a waiver from including day treatment services if they 
2.7 	can document that:
2.8 	(1) an alternative plan of care exists through the county's community support services 
2.9 	for clients who would otherwise need day treatment services;
2.10 	(2) day treatment, if included, would be duplicative of other components of the 
2.11 	community support services; and
2.12 	(3) county demographics and geography make the provision of day treatment services 
2.13 	cost ineffective and infeasible.

2.14 	Sec. 2. Minnesota Statutes 2016, section 245.4871, subdivision 26, is amended to read:
2.15 		Subd. 26.Mental health practitioner. "Mental health practitioner" means a person 
2.16 	providing services to children with emotional disturbances. A mental health practitioner 
2.17 	must have training and experience in working with children. A mental health practitioner 
2.18 	must be qualified in at least one of the following ways:
2.19 	(1) holds a bachelor's degree in one of the behavioral sciences or related fields, including, 
2.20 	but not limited to, social work, psychology, sociology, community counseling, family social 
2.21 	science, child development/child psychology, community mental health, addiction counseling, 
2.22 	counseling/guidance, and special education from an accredited college or university and:
2.23 	(i) has at least 2,000 hours of supervised experience in the delivery of mental health 
2.24 	services to children with emotional disturbances; or
2.25 	(ii) is fluent in the non-English language of the ethnic group to which at least 50 percent 
2.26 	of the practitioner's clients belong, completes 40 hours of training in the delivery of services 
2.27 	to children with emotional disturbances, and receives clinical supervision from a mental 
2.28 	health professional at least once a week until the requirement of 2,000 hours of supervised 
2.29 	experience is met;
2.30 	(2) has at least 6,000 hours of supervised experience in the delivery of mental health 
2.31 	services to children with emotional disturbances; hours worked as a mental health behavioral 
3.1 	aide I or II under section 256B.0943, subdivision 7, may be included in the 6,000 hours of 
3.2 	experience;
3.3 	(3) is a graduate student in one of the behavioral sciences or related fields and is formally 
3.4 	assigned by an accredited college or university to an agency or facility for clinical training; 
3.5 	or
3.6 	(4) holds a master's or other graduate degree in one of the behavioral sciences or related 
3.7 	fields from an accredited college or university.

3.8 	Sec. 3. Minnesota Statutes 2016, section 245.8261, subdivision 4, is amended to read:
3.9 		Subd. 4.Allowable procedures. (a) A provider may use one or more of the following 
3.10 	restrictive procedures:
3.11 	(1) physical escort;
3.12 	(2) physical holding;
3.13 	(3) seclusion; and
3.14 	(4) the limited use of mechanical restraints only in emergency situations.
3.15 	(b) A provider shall permit use of restrictive procedures only by ~~a mental health~~ 
3.16 	~~professional under section 245.4871, subdivision 27, or by a mental health practitioner~~ 
3.17 	~~under section 245.4871, subdivision 26,~~a program staff who has completed the required 
3.18 	training and who is acting under the clinical supervision of a mental health professional.

3.19 	Sec. 4. Minnesota Statutes 2016, section 256B.0943, subdivision 1, is amended to read:
3.20 		Subdivision 1.Definitions. For purposes of this section, the following terms have the 
3.21 	meanings given them.
3.22 	(a) "Children's therapeutic services and supports" means the flexible package of mental 
3.23 	health services for children who require varying therapeutic and rehabilitative levels of 
3.24 	intervention to treat a diagnosed emotional disturbance, as defined in section 245.4871, 
3.25 	subdivision 15, or a diagnosed mental illness, as defined in section 245.462, subdivision 
3.26 	20. The services are time-limited interventions that are delivered using various treatment 
3.27 	modalities and combinations of services designed to reach treatment outcomes identified 
3.28 	in the individual treatment plan.
3.29 	(b) "Clinical supervision" means the overall responsibility of the mental health 
3.30 	professional for the control and direction of individualized treatment planning, service 
3.31 	delivery, and treatment review for each client. A mental health professional who is an 
4.1 	enrolled Minnesota health care program provider accepts full professional responsibility 
4.2 	for a supervisee's actions and decisions, instructs the supervisee in the supervisee's work, 
4.3 	and oversees or directs the supervisee's work.
4.4 	(c) "Clinical trainee" means a mental health practitioner who meets the qualifications 
4.5 	specified in Minnesota Rules, part 9505.0371, subpart 5, item C.
4.6 	(d) "Crisis assistance" has the meaning given in section 245.4871, subdivision 9a. Crisis 
4.7 	assistance entails the development of a written plan to assist a child's family to contend with 
4.8 	a potential crisis and is distinct from the immediate provision of crisis intervention services.
4.9 	(e) "Culturally competent provider" means a provider who understands and can utilize 
4.10 	to a client's benefit the client's culture when providing services to the client. A provider 
4.11 	may be culturally competent because the provider is of the same cultural or ethnic group 
4.12 	as the client or the provider has developed the knowledge and skills through training and 
4.13 	experience to provide services to culturally diverse clients.
4.14 	(f) "Day treatment program" for children means a site-based structured mental health 
4.15 	program consisting of psychotherapy for three or more individuals and individual or group 
4.16 	skills training provided by a multidisciplinary team, under the clinical supervision of a 
4.17 	mental health professional.
4.18 	(g) "Diagnostic assessment" has the meaning given in Minnesota Rules, part 9505.0372, 
4.19 	subpart 1.
4.20 	(h) "Direct service time" means the time that a mental health professional, clinical trainee, 
4.21 	mental health practitioner, or mental health behavioral aide spends face-to-face with a client 
4.22 	and the client's family or providing covered telemedicine services. Direct service time 
4.23 	includes time in which the provider obtains a client's history, develops a client's treatment 
4.24 	plan, records individual treatment outcomes, or provides service components of children's 
4.25 	therapeutic services and supports. Direct service time does not include time doing work 
4.26 	before and after providing direct services, including scheduling or maintaining clinical 
4.27 	records.
4.28 	(i) "Direction of mental health behavioral aide" means the activities of a mental health 
4.29 	professional or mental health practitioner in guiding the mental health behavioral aide in 
4.30 	providing services to a client. The direction of a mental health behavioral aide must be based 
4.31 	on the client's individualized treatment plan and meet the requirements in subdivision 6, 
4.32 	paragraph (b), clause (5).
4.33 	(j) "Emotional disturbance" has the meaning given in section 245.4871, subdivision 15.
5.1 	(k) "Individual behavioral plan" means a plan of intervention, treatment, and services 
5.2 	for a child written by a mental health professional or mental health practitioner, under the 
5.3 	clinical supervision of a mental health professional, to guide the work of the mental health 
5.4 	behavioral aide. The individual behavioral plan may be incorporated into the child's individual 
5.5 	treatment plan so long as the behavioral plan is separately communicable to the mental 
5.6 	health behavioral aide.
5.7 	(l) "Individual treatment plan" has the meaning given in Minnesota Rules, part 9505.0371, 
5.8 	subpart 7.
5.9 	(m) "Mental health behavioral aide services" means medically necessary one-on-one 
5.10 	activities performed by a trained paraprofessional qualified as provided in subdivision 7, 
5.11 	paragraph (b), clause (3), to assist a child retain or generalize psychosocial skills as previously 
5.12 	trained by a mental health professional or mental health practitioner and as described in the 
5.13 	child's individual treatment plan and individual behavior plan. Activities involve working 
5.14 	directly with the child or child's family as provided in subdivision 9, paragraph (b), clause 
5.15 	(4).
5.16 	(n) "Mental health practitioner" means an individual as defined in Minnesota Rules, part 
5.17 	9505.0370, subpart 17, except that 2,000 hours of supervised experience is not required for 
5.18 	day treatment programs.
5.19 	(o) "Mental health professional" means an individual as defined in Minnesota Rules, 
5.20 	part 9505.0370, subpart 18.
5.21 	(p) "Mental health service plan development" includes:
5.22 	(1) the development, review, and revision of a child's individual treatment plan, as 
5.23 	provided in Minnesota Rules, part 9505.0371, subpart 7, including involvement of the client 
5.24 	or client's parents, primary caregiver, or other person authorized to consent to mental health 
5.25 	services for the client, and including arrangement of treatment and support activities specified 
5.26 	in the individual treatment plan; and
5.27 	(2) administering standardized outcome measurement instruments, determined and 
5.28 	updated by the commissioner, as periodically needed to evaluate the effectiveness of 
5.29 	treatment for children receiving clinical services and reporting outcome measures, as required 
5.30 	by the commissioner.
5.31 	(q) "Mental illness," for persons at least age 18 but under age 21, has the meaning given 
5.32 	in section 245.462, subdivision 20, paragraph (a).
6.1 	(r) "Psychotherapy" means the treatment of mental or emotional disorders or 
6.2 	maladjustment by psychological means. Psychotherapy may be provided in many modalities 
6.3 	in accordance with Minnesota Rules, part 9505.0372, subpart 6, including patient and/or 
6.4 	family psychotherapy; family psychotherapy; psychotherapy for crisis; group psychotherapy; 
6.5 	or multiple-family psychotherapy. Beginning with the American Medical Association's 
6.6 	Current Procedural Terminology, standard edition, 2014, the procedure "individual 
6.7 	psychotherapy" is replaced with "patient and/or family psychotherapy," a substantive change 
6.8 	that permits the therapist to work with the client's family without the client present to obtain 
6.9 	information about the client or to explain the client's treatment plan to the family. 
6.10 	Psychotherapy is appropriate for crisis response when a child has become dysregulated or 
6.11 	experienced new trauma since the diagnostic assessment was completed and needs 
6.12 	psychotherapy to address issues not currently included in the child's individual treatment 
6.13 	plan.
6.14 	(s) "Rehabilitative services" or "psychiatric rehabilitation services" means a series or 
6.15 	multidisciplinary combination of psychiatric and psychosocial interventions to: (1) restore 
6.16 	a child or adolescent to an age-appropriate developmental trajectory that had been disrupted 
6.17 	by a psychiatric illness; or (2) enable the child to self-monitor, compensate for, cope with, 
6.18 	counteract, or replace psychosocial skills deficits or maladaptive skills acquired over the 
6.19 	course of a psychiatric illness. Psychiatric rehabilitation services for children combine 
6.20 	psychotherapy to address internal psychological, emotional, and intellectual processing 
6.21 	deficits, and skills training to restore personal and social functioning. Psychiatric 
6.22 	rehabilitation services establish a progressive series of goals with each achievement building 
6.23 	upon a prior achievement. Continuing progress toward goals is expected, and rehabilitative 
6.24 	potential ceases when successive improvement is not observable over a period of time.
6.25 	(t) "Skills training" means individual, family, or group training, delivered by or under 
6.26 	the supervision of a mental health professional, designed to facilitate the acquisition of 
6.27 	psychosocial skills that are medically necessary to rehabilitate the child to an age-appropriate 
6.28 	developmental trajectory heretofore disrupted by a psychiatric illness or to enable the child 
6.29 	to self-monitor, compensate for, cope with, counteract, or replace skills deficits or 
6.30 	maladaptive skills acquired over the course of a psychiatric illness. Skills training is subject 
6.31 	to the service delivery requirements under subdivision 9, paragraph (b), clause (2).

6.32 	Sec. 5. Minnesota Statutes 2016, section 256B.0943, subdivision 9, is amended to read:
6.33 		Subd. 9.Service delivery criteria. (a) In delivering services under this section, a certified 
6.34 	provider entity must ensure that:
7.1 	(1) each individual provider's caseload size permits the provider to deliver services to 
7.2 	both clients with severe, complex needs and clients with less intensive needs. The provider's 
7.3 	caseload size should reasonably enable the provider to play an active role in service planning, 
7.4 	monitoring, and delivering services to meet the client's and client's family's needs, as specified 
7.5 	in each client's individual treatment plan;
7.6 	(2) site-based programs, including day treatment programs, provide staffing and facilities 
7.7 	to ensure the client's health, safety, and protection of rights, and that the programs are able 
7.8 	to implement each client's individual treatment plan; and
7.9 	(3) a day treatment program is provided to a group of clients by a multidisciplinary team 
7.10 	under the clinical supervision of a mental health professional. The day treatment program 
7.11 	must be provided in and by: (i) an outpatient hospital accredited by the Joint Commission 
7.12 	on Accreditation of Health Organizations and licensed under sections 144.50 to 144.55; (ii) 
7.13 	a community mental health center under section 245.62; or (iii) an entity that is certified 
7.14 	under subdivision 4 to operate a program that meets the requirements of section 245.4884, 
7.15 	subdivision 2, and Minnesota Rules, parts 9505.0170 to 9505.0475. The day treatment 
7.16 	program must stabilize the client's mental health status while developing and improving the 
7.17 	client's independent living and socialization skills. The goal of the day treatment program 
7.18 	must be to reduce or relieve the effects of mental illness and provide training to enable the 
7.19 	client to live in the community. The program must be available year-round at least three to 
7.20 	five days per week, two or three hours per day, unless the normal five-day school week is 
7.21 	shortened by a holiday, weather-related cancellation, or other districtwide reduction in a 
7.22 	school week. A child transitioning into or out of day treatment must receive a minimum 
7.23 	treatment of one day a week for a two-hour time block. The two-hour time block must 
7.24 	include at least one hour of patient and/or family or group psychotherapy. The remainder 
7.25 	of the structured treatment program may include patient and/or family or group 
7.26 	psychotherapy, and individual or group skills training, if included in the client's individual 
7.27 	treatment plan. Day treatment programs are not part of inpatient or residential treatment 
7.28 	services. When a day treatment group that meets the minimum group size requirement 
7.29 	temporarily falls below the minimum group size because of a member's temporary absence, 
7.30 	medical assistance covers a group session conducted for the group members in attendance. 
7.31 	A day treatment program may provide fewer than the minimally required hours for a 
7.32 	particular child during a billing period in which the child is transitioning into, or out of, the 
7.33 	program.
8.1 	(b) To be eligible for medical assistance payment, a provider entity must deliver the 
8.2 	service components of children's therapeutic services and supports in compliance with the 
8.3 	following requirements:
8.4 	(1) patient and/or family, family, and group psychotherapy must be delivered as specified 
8.5 	in Minnesota Rules, part 9505.0372, subpart 6. Psychotherapy to address the child's 
8.6 	underlying mental health disorder must be documented as part of the child's ongoing 
8.7 	treatment. A provider must deliver, or arrange for, medically necessary psychotherapy, 
8.8 	unless the child's parent or caregiver chooses not to receive it. When a provider delivering 
8.9 	other services to a child under this section deems it not medically necessary to provide 
8.10 	psychotherapy to the child for a period of 90 days or longer, the provider entity must 
8.11 	document the medical reasons why psychotherapy is not necessary. When a provider 
8.12 	determines that a child needs psychotherapy but psychotherapy cannot be delivered due to 
8.13 	a shortage of licensed mental health professionals in the child's community, the provider 
8.14 	must document the lack of access in the child's medical record;
8.15 	(2) individual, family, or group skills training must be provided by a mental health 
8.16 	professional or a mental health practitioner who is delivering services that fall within the 
8.17 	scope of the provider's practice and is supervised by a mental health professional who 
8.18 	accepts full professional responsibility for the training. Skills training is subject to the 
8.19 	following requirements:
8.20 	(i) a mental health professional, clinical trainee, or mental health practitioner shall provide 
8.21 	skills training;
8.22 	(ii) skills training delivered to a child or the child's family must be targeted to the specific 
8.23 	deficits or maladaptations of the child's mental health disorder and must be prescribed in 
8.24 	the child's individual treatment plan;
8.25 	(iii) the mental health professional delivering or supervising the delivery of skills training 
8.26 	must document any underlying psychiatric condition and must document how skills training 
8.27 	is being used in conjunction with psychotherapy to address the underlying condition;
8.28 	(iv) skills training delivered to the child's family must teach skills needed by parents to 
8.29 	enhance the child's skill development, to help the child utilize daily life skills taught by a 
8.30 	mental health professional, clinical trainee, or mental health practitioner, and to develop or 
8.31 	maintain a home environment that supports the child's progressive use of skills;
8.32 	(v) group skills training may be provided to multiple recipients who, because of the 
8.33 	nature of their emotional, behavioral, or social dysfunction, can derive mutual benefit from 
8.34 	interaction in a group setting, which must be staffed as follows:
9.1 	(A) one mental health professional or one clinical trainee or mental health practitioner 
9.2 	under supervision of a licensed mental health professional must work with a group of three 
9.3 	to eight clients; or
9.4 	(B) two mental health professionals, two clinical trainees or mental health practitioners 
9.5 	under supervision of a licensed mental health professional, or one mental health professional 
9.6 	or clinical trainee and one mental health practitioner must work with a group of nine to 12 
9.7 	clients;
9.8 	(vi) a mental health professional, clinical trainee, or mental health practitioner must have 
9.9 	taught the psychosocial skill before a mental health behavioral aide may practice that skill 
9.10 	with the client; and
9.11 	(vii) for group skills training, when a skills group that meets the minimum group size 
9.12 	requirement temporarily falls below the minimum group size because of a group member's 
9.13 	temporary absence, the provider may conduct the session for the group members in 
9.14 	attendance;
9.15 	(3) crisis assistance to a child and family must include development of a written plan 
9.16 	that anticipates the particular factors specific to the child that may precipitate a psychiatric 
9.17 	crisis for the child in the near future. The written plan must document actions that the family 
9.18 	should be prepared to take to resolve or stabilize a crisis, such as advance arrangements for 
9.19 	direct intervention and support services to the child and the child's family. Crisis assistance 
9.20 	must include preparing resources designed to address abrupt or substantial changes in the 
9.21 	functioning of the child or the child's family when sudden change in behavior or a loss of 
9.22 	usual coping mechanisms is observed, or the child begins to present a danger to self or 
9.23 	others;
9.24 	(4) mental health behavioral aide services must be medically necessary treatment services, 
9.25 	identified in the child's individual treatment plan and individual behavior plan, which are 
9.26 	performed minimally by a paraprofessional qualified according to subdivision 7, paragraph 
9.27 	(b), clause (3), and which are designed to improve the functioning of the child in the 
9.28 	progressive use of developmentally appropriate psychosocial skills. Activities involve 
9.29 	working directly with the child, child-peer groupings, or child-family groupings to practice, 
9.30 	repeat, reintroduce, and master the skills defined in subdivision 1, paragraph (t), as previously 
9.31 	taught by a mental health professional, clinical trainee, or mental health practitioner including:
9.32 	(i) providing cues or prompts in skill-building peer-to-peer or parent-child interactions 
9.33 	so that the child progressively recognizes and responds to the cues independently;
9.34 	(ii) performing as a practice partner or role-play partner;
10.1 	(iii) reinforcing the child's accomplishments;
10.2 	(iv) generalizing skill-building activities in the child's multiple natural settings;
10.3 	(v) assigning further practice activities; and
10.4 	(vi) intervening as necessary to redirect the child's target behavior and to de-escalate 
10.5 	behavior that puts the child or other person at risk of injury.
10.6 	To be eligible for medical assistance payment, mental health behavioral aide services must 
10.7 	be delivered to a child who has been diagnosed with an emotional disturbance or a mental 
10.8 	illness, as provided in subdivision 1, paragraph (a). The mental health behavioral aide must 
10.9 	implement treatment strategies in the individual treatment plan and the individual behavior 
10.10 	plan as developed by the mental health professional, clinical trainee, or mental health 
10.11 	practitioner providing direction for the mental health behavioral aide. The mental health 
10.12 	behavioral aide must document the delivery of services in written progress notes. Progress 
10.13 	notes must reflect implementation of the treatment strategies, as performed by the mental 
10.14 	health behavioral aide and the child's responses to the treatment strategies;
10.15 	(5) direction of a mental health behavioral aide must include the following:
10.16 	(i) ongoing face-to-face observation of the mental health behavioral aide delivering 
10.17 	services to a child by a mental health professional or mental health practitioner for at least 
10.18 	a total of one hour during every 40 hours of service provided to a child; and
10.19 	(ii) immediate accessibility of the mental health professional, clinical trainee, or mental 
10.20 	health practitioner to the mental health behavioral aide during service provision;
10.21 	(6) mental health service plan development must be performed in consultation with the 
10.22 	child's family and, when appropriate, with other key participants in the child's life by the 
10.23 	child's treating mental health professional or clinical trainee or by a mental health practitioner 
10.24 	and approved by the treating mental health professional. Treatment plan drafting consists 
10.25 	of development, review, and revision by face-to-face or electronic communication. The 
10.26 	provider must document events, including the time spent with the family and other key 
10.27 	participants in the child's life to review, revise, and sign the individual treatment plan. 
10.28 	Notwithstanding Minnesota Rules, part 9505.0371, subpart 7, medical assistance covers 
10.29 	service plan development before completion of the child's individual treatment plan. Service 
10.30 	plan development is covered only if a treatment plan is completed for the child. If upon 
10.31 	review, it is determined that a treatment plan was not completed for the child, the 
10.32 	commissioner shall recover the payment for the service plan development; and
11.1 	(7) to be eligible for payment, a diagnostic assessment must be complete with regard to 
11.2 	all required components, including multiple assessment appointments required for an 
11.3 	extended diagnostic assessment and the written report. Dates of the multiple assessment 
11.4 	appointments must be noted in the client's clinical record.

11.5 	Sec. 6. Minnesota Statutes 2016, section 256B.0943, subdivision 13, is amended to read:
11.6 		Subd. 13.Exception to excluded services. Notwithstanding subdivision 12, up to 15 
11.7 	hours of children's therapeutic services and supports provided within a six-month period to 
11.8 	a child with severe emotional disturbance who is residing in a hospital; ~~a group home as~~ 
11.9 	~~defined in Minnesota Rules, parts 2960.0130 to 2960.0220;~~ a residential treatment facility 
11.10 	licensed under Minnesota Rules, parts 2960.0580 to 2960.0690; a psychiatric residential 
11.11 	treatment facility under section 256B.0625, subdivision 45a; a regional treatment center; 
11.12 	or other institutional group setting or who is participating in a program of partial 
11.13 	hospitalization are eligible for medical assistance payment if part of the discharge plan.