2013 Indiana Code
TITLE 12. HUMAN SERVICES
ARTICLE 28. MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS CONCERNING MENTAL ILLNESS AND DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES
CHAPTER 2. INTERSTATE COMPACT ON MENTAL HEALTH
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IC 12-28-2
Chapter 2. Interstate Compact on Mental Health
IC 12-28-2-1
Enactment and text of compact
Sec. 1. The Interstate Compact on Mental Health is hereby
enacted into law and entered into by this state with all other states
legally joining therein in the form substantially as follows:
INTERSTATE COMPACT ON MENTAL HEALTH
The contracting states solemnly agree that:
Article 1.
The party states find that the proper and expeditious treatment of
the mentally ill and mentally deficient can be facilitated by
cooperative action, to the benefit of the patients, their families, and
society as a whole. Further the party states find that the necessity of
and desirability for furnishing such care and treatment bears no
primary relation to the residence or citizenship of the patient but that,
on the contrary, the controlling factors of community safety and
humanitarianism require that facilities and services be made
available for all who are in need of them. Consequently, it is the
purpose of this compact and of the party states to provide the
necessary legal basis for the institutionalization or other appropriate
care and treatment of the mentally ill and mentally deficient under a
system that recognizes the paramount importance of patient welfare
and to establish the responsibilities of the party states in terms of
such welfare.
Article 2.
As used in this compact, the following terms have the following
meanings:
(a) "Sending state" means a party state from which a patient is
transported pursuant to this compact or from which it is
contemplated that a patient may be so sent.
(b) "Receiving state" means a party state to which a patient is
transported pursuant to this compact or to which it is
contemplated that a patient may be so sent.
(c) "Institution" means any hospital or other facility maintained
by a party state or political subdivision of a party state for the
care and treatment of mental illness or mental deficiency.
(d) "Patient" means any person subject to or eligible as
determined by the laws of the sending state, for
institutionalization or other care, treatment, or supervision
pursuant to this compact.
(e) "After-care" means care, treatment, and services provided a
patient, as defined in this compact, on convalescent status or
conditional release.
(f) "Mental illness" means mental disease to the extent that a
person so afflicted requires care and treatment for that person's
own welfare, the welfare of others, or the welfare of the
community.
(g) "Mental deficiency" means mental deficiency as defined by
appropriate clinical authorities to the extent that a person so
afflicted is incapable of managing the person's self and the
person's affairs. However, the term does not include mental
illness as defined in this compact.
(h) "State" means any state, territory, or possession of the
United States, the District of Columbia, and the Commonwealth
of Puerto Rico.
(i) "Guardian" includes any guardian, trustee, legal committee,
conservator, or other person or agency however denominated
who is charged by law with the power to act for or exercise
responsibility for the person or property of a patient.
Article 3.
(a) Whenever a person physically present in any party state is in
need of institutionalization by reason of mental illness or mental
deficiency, the person shall be eligible for care and treatment in an
institution in that state irrespective of the person's residence,
settlement, or citizenship qualifications.
(b) Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph (a) of this article,
any patient may be transferred to an institution in another state
whenever there are factors based upon clinical determinations
indicating that the care and treatment of the patient would be
facilitated or improved by this transfer. Any such institutionalization
may be for the entire period of care and treatment or for any portion
or portions of the care and treatment of the patient. The factors
referred to in this paragraph shall include:
(1) the patient's full record with due regard for the location of
the patient's family;
(2) the character of the illness and probable duration thereof;
and
(3) any other factors considered to be appropriate.
(c) No state shall be obliged to receive any patient pursuant to
paragraph (b) of this article unless the sending state has given
advance notice of its intention to send the patient, furnished all
available medical and other pertinent records concerning the patient,
given the qualified medical or other appropriate clinical authorities
of the receiving state an opportunity to examine the patient if said
authorities so wish, and unless the receiving state agrees to accept the
patient.
(d) If the laws of the receiving state establish a system of
priorities for the admission of patients, an interstate patient under
this compact shall receive the same priority as a local patient and
shall be taken in the same order and at the same time that he would
be taken if he were a local patient.
(e) Pursuant to this compact, the determination as to the suitable
place of institutionalization for a patient may be reviewed at any time
and any further transfer of the patient may be made as seems likely
to be in the best interest of the patient.
Article 4.
(a) Whenever, pursuant to the laws of the state in which a patient
is physically present, it is determined that the patient should receive
after-care or supervision, such care or supervision may be provided
in a receiving state. If the medical or other appropriate clinical
authorities having responsibility for the care and treatment of the
patient in the sending state shall have reason to believe that after-care
in another state would be in the best interest of the patient and would
not jeopardize the public safety, they shall request the appropriate
authorities in the receiving state to investigate the desirability of
affording the patient such after-care in the receiving state, and such
investigation shall be made with all reasonable speed. The request
for investigation shall be accompanied by complete information
concerning the patient's intended place of residence and the identity
of the person in whose charge it is proposed to place the patient, the
complete medical history of the patient, and such other documents as
may be pertinent.
(b) If the medical or other appropriate clinical authorities having
responsibility for the care and treatment of the patient in the sending
state and the appropriate authorities in the receiving state find that
the best interest of the patient would be served, and if the public
safety would not be jeopardized, the patient may receive after-care
or supervision in the receiving state.
(c) In supervising, treating, or caring for a patient on after-care
pursuant to the terms of this article, a receiving state shall employ the
same standards of visitation, examination, care, and treatment that it
employs for similar local patients.
Article 5.
Whenever a dangerous or potentially dangerous patient escapes
from an institution in any party state, that state shall promptly notify
all appropriate authorities within and without the jurisdiction of the
escape in a manner reasonably calculated to facilitate the speedy
apprehension of the escapee. Immediately upon the apprehension and
identification of any such dangerous or potentially dangerous patient,
the patient shall be detained in the state where found pending
disposition in accordance with law.
Article 6.
The duly accredited officers of any state party to this compact,
upon the establishment of their authority and the identity of the
patient, shall be permitted to transport any patient being moved
pursuant to this compact through any and all states party to this
compact, without interference.
Article 7.
(a) No person shall be deemed a patient of more than one (1)
institution at any given time. Completion of transfer of any patient to
an institution in a receiving state shall have the effect of making the
person a patient of the institution in the receiving state.
(b) The sending state shall pay all costs of and incidental to the
transportation of any patient pursuant to this compact, but any two
(2) or more party states may, by making a specific agreement for that
purpose, arrange for a different allocation of costs as among
themselves.
(c) Nothing in this compact may be construed to alter or affect any
internal relationships among the departments, agencies, and officers
of and in the government of a party state, or between a party state
and its subdivisions as to the payment of costs or responsibilities for
the costs.
(d) Nothing in this compact may be construed to prevent any party
state or subdivision of a party state from asserting any right against
any person, agency, or other entity in regard to costs for which such
party state or subdivision may be responsible pursuant to this
compact.
(e) Nothing in this compact may be construed to invalidate any
reciprocal agreement between a party state and a non-party state
relating to institutionalization, care, or treatment of the mentally ill
or mentally deficient, or any statutory authority pursuant to which
those agreements may be made.
Article 8.
Nothing in this compact may be construed to abridge, diminish,
or in any way impair the rights, duties, and responsibilities of any
patient's guardian on the guardian's own behalf or in respect of any
patient for whom a guardian may serve, except that where the
transfer of any patient to another jurisdiction makes advisable the
appointment of a supplemental or substitute guardian, any court of
competent jurisdiction in the receiving state may make such
supplemental or substitute appointment and the court which
appointed the previous guardian shall upon being duly advised of the
new appointment, and upon the satisfactory completion of such
accounting and other acts as such court may by law require, relieve
the previous guardian of power and responsibility to whatever extent
shall be appropriate in the circumstances. However, in the case of
any patient having settlement in the sending state, the court of
competent jurisdiction in the sending state shall have the sole
discretion to relieve a guardian appointed by the court or continue
the guardian's power and responsibility, whichever the court
determines is advisable. The court in the receiving state may, in its
discretion, confirm or reappoint the person or persons previously
serving as guardian in the sending state instead of making a
supplemental or substitute appointment.
Article 9.
(a) No provision of this compact except Article 5 shall apply to
any person institutionalized:
(1) while under sentence in a penal or correctional institution;
(2) while subject to trial on a criminal charge; or
(3) whose institutionalization is due to the commission of an
offense for which, in the absence of mental illness or mental
deficiency, the person would be subject to incarceration in a
penal or correctional institution.
(b) To every extent possible, it shall be the policy of states party
to this compact that no patient shall be placed or detained in any
prison, jail, or lock-up, but the patient shall, with all expedition, be
taken to a suitable institutional facility for mental illness or mental
deficiency.
Article 10.
(a) Each party state shall appoint a compact administrator who, on
behalf of the state, shall act as general coordinator of activities under
the compact in that state and who shall receive copies of all reports,
correspondence, and other documents relating to any patient
processed under the compact by that state either in the capacity of
sending or receiving state. The compact administrator or the
administrator's duly designated representative shall be the official
with whom other party states shall deal in any manner relating to the
compact or any patient processed thereunder.
(b) The compact administrators of the respective party states shall
have power to promulgate reasonable rules and regulations to carry
out more effectively the terms and provisions of this compact.
Article 11.
(a) The duly constituted administrative authorities of any two (2)
or more party states may enter into supplementary agreements for the
provision of any service or facility or for the maintenance of any
institution on a joint or cooperative basis whenever the states
concerned shall find that such agreements will improve services,
facilities, or institutional care and treatment in the fields of mental
illness or mental deficiency.
(b) No such supplementary agreement shall be construed so as to
relieve any party state of any obligation which it otherwise would
have under other provisions of this compact.
Article 12.
This compact shall enter into full force and effect as to any state
when enacted by the state into law and the state shall thereafter be a
party to the compact with any and all states legally joining in the
compact.
Article 13.
(a) A state party to this compact may withdraw from the compact
by enacting a statute repealing the compact. Such withdrawal shall
take effect one (1) year after notice of the withdrawal has been
communicated officially and in writing to the governors and compact
administrators of all other party states. However, the withdrawal of
any state shall not change the status of any patient who has been sent
to that state or sent out of that state pursuant to this compact.
(b) Withdrawal from any agreement permitted by Article 7(b) as
to costs or from any supplementary agreement made pursuant to
Article 11 shall be in accordance with the terms of that agreement.
Article 14.
(a) This compact shall be liberally construed so as to effectuate
the purposes thereof.
(b) The provisions of this compact are severable and if any
phrase, clause, sentence, or provision of this compact is declared to
be contrary to the constitution of any party state or of the United
States or the applicability thereof to any government, agency, person,
or circumstance is held invalid the validity of the remainder of this
compact and the applicability thereof to any government, agency,
person, or circumstance shall not be affected thereby.
(c) If this compact is held contrary to the constitution of any state
party to the compact, the compact shall remain in full force and
effect as to the remaining states and in full force and effect as to the
state affected as to all severable matters.
As added by P.L.2-1992, SEC.22.
IC 12-28-2-2
Compact administrator; rules; cooperation
Sec. 2. (a) Pursuant to the compact described in section 1 of this
chapter, the director or a person authorized to act on behalf of the
director shall perform the duties of compact administrator.
(b) The compact administrator may, acting jointly with like
officers of other party states, adopt rules to carry out more effectively
the terms of the compact.
(c) The compact administrator shall cooperate with all
departments, agencies, and officers of the state and subdivisions of
the state in facilitating the proper administration of the compact or
of any supplementary agreement entered into by Indiana under the
compact.
As added by P.L.2-1992, SEC.22.
IC 12-28-2-3
Supplementary agreements
Sec. 3. The compact administrator may enter into supplementary
agreements with appropriate officials of other states pursuant to
articles 7 and 11 of the compact. If a supplementary agreement
requires or contemplates:
(1) the use of an institution or a facility of Indiana; or
(2) the provision of any service by Indiana;
the agreement does not have force or effect until approved by the
head of the department or agency under whose jurisdiction the
particular institution or facility is operated or whose department or
agency will be charged with provision of the service.
As added by P.L.2-1992, SEC.22.
IC 12-28-2-4
Financial obligations; discharge
Sec. 4. The compact administrator may, subject to the approval of
the chief state fiscal officer, make or arrange for any payments
necessary to discharge any financial obligations imposed upon
Indiana by the compact or by a supplementary agreement.
As added by P.L.2-1992, SEC.22.
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