Substitute Senate Bill No. 472
          Substitute Senate Bill No. 472

              PUBLIC ACT NO. 98-201


AN ACT CONCERNING  SUBSTANCE  ABUSE EMERGENCY ROOM
SCREENING AND TRAINING  AND  EDUCATION  FOR HEALTH
CARE PROFESSIONALS.


    Be it enacted  by  the  Senate  and  House  of
Representatives in General Assembly convened:
    Section 1. Each institution of higher learning
licensed or accredited under section 10a-34 of the
general statutes to  offer  a  degree qualifying a
person  for  licensure   in   medicine,   advanced
practice  nursing,  psychology,   clinical  social
work, professional counseling,  alcohol  and  drug
counseling or marital  and  family therapy or as a
registered nurse or  a  physician  assistant shall
present  to  the  Board  of  Governors  of  Higher
Education,  on or  before  December  1,  1998,  an
implementation  plan  for   creating   courses  of
instruction  on  alcohol   and   substance   abuse
prevention, screening, assessment and referral and
requiring each student  to take such a course as a
condition of receiving  a  degree.  Not later than
January 1, 1999,  the  board  of  governors  shall
submit a report on the implementation plans to the
joint standing committees  of the General Assembly
having cognizance of matters relating to education
and  matters  relating   to   public   health,  in
accordance  with  section  11-4a  of  the  general
statutes.
    Sec. 2. (NEW)  (a)  Each  hospital licensed by
the Department of  Public  Health  as a short-term
general hospital, outpatient  surgical facility or
outpatient clinic shall  include  in the record of
each  trauma patient  a  notation  indicating  the
extent and outcome  of  screening  for alcohol and
substance abuse. For  purposes  of  this  section,
"trauma patient" means a patient of sufficient age
to be at  risk of alcohol and substance abuse with
a traumatic injury,  as defined in the most recent
edition  of the  International  Classification  of
Disease,  who is  admitted  to  the  hospital,  is
transferred to or from an acute care setting, dies
or requires emergent trauma team activation.
    (b)  Each  such   hospital   shall   establish
protocols for screening  patients  for alcohol and
substance abuse and  shall  annually submit to the
Departments of Public Health and Mental Health and
Addiction Services a  copy of such protocols and a
report on their implementation.
    Sec. 3. (NEW)  The Department of Mental Health
and Addiction Services,  after  consultation  with
the Department of Public Health, shall assist each
hospital required to conduct alcohol and substance
abuse screening pursuant  to section 2 of this act
with the development and implementation of alcohol
and substance abuse screening protocols.
    Sec. 4. The  Department  of  Mental Health and
Addiction Services, after  consultation  with  the
Department  of  Public   Health  and  health  care
providers,   shall   develop    model   continuing
education  standards  for  alcohol  and  substance
abuse  screening,  assessment   and  referral  for
health  care  providers   licensed   in  medicine,
advanced  practice nursing,  psychology,  clinical
social work, professional  counseling, alcohol and
drug counseling or  marital  and family therapy or
as a registered  nurse  or  a physician assistant.
Not later than  January  1,  1999,  the department
shall  submit  a  report  to  the  joint  standing
committees   of  the   General   Assembly   having
cognizance of matters  relating  to public health,
in accordance with  section  11-4a  of the general
statutes.
    Sec. 5. This  act  shall  take effect from its
passage, except that  sections  2 and 3 shall take
effect October 1, 1998.

Approved June 8, 1998