2018 Louisiana Laws
Revised Statutes
TITLE 28 - Mental Health
RS 28:70 - Written treatment plan for involuntary outpatient treatment
§70. Written treatment plan for involuntary outpatient treatment
A. The court shall not order involuntary outpatient treatment unless an examining physician, psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner, or psychologist develops and provides to the court a proposed written treatment plan. The written treatment plan shall be deemed appropriate by the director as well as the patient and upon his request, an individual significant to him and concerned with his welfare. The written treatment plan shall include appropriate services to provide care coordination. The written treatment plan shall also include appropriate categories of services, as set forth in Subsection D of this Section, which the patient is recommended to receive and are available to the patient. The written treatment plan shall specify a provider that has agreed to provide each of the specified services. If the written treatment plan includes medication, it shall state whether the medication should be self-administered or administered by authorized personnel, and shall specify type and dosage range of medication most likely to provide maximum benefit for the patient.
B. If the written treatment plan includes substance-related or addictive disorder counseling and treatment, it may include a provision requiring testing for either alcohol or illegal substances provided the clinical basis for recommending such plan provides sufficient facts for the court to find all of the following:
(1) The patient has a history of a substance-related or addictive disorder that is clinically related to the mental illness.
(2) Testing is necessary to prevent a relapse or deterioration.
C. The plan shall be provided to the court and all persons required to receive notice within R.S. 28:69(A) at least three days before the date of the hearing on the petition.
D.(1) Services shall include but are not limited to case management, provided by the local governing entity which is defined as the assignment of the coordination of care for an outpatient individual with a serious mental illness to a single person or team, including all necessary medical and mental health care and associated supportive services.
(2) Services may include but are not limited to the following categories and will depend upon the availability in the patient's area:
(a) Assertive community treatment.
(b) Medication.
(c) Laboratory testing to include periodic blood testing for therapeutic metabolic effects, toxicology testing, and breath analysis.
(d) Individual or group therapy.
(e) Day or partial day programming activities.
(f) Education and vocational rehabilitation training.
(g) Substance-related or addictive disorder treatment.
(h) Supervised living.
(i) Transportation.
(j) Housing assistance.
E. The director or his designee of the local governing entity shall certify that the services ordered in the plan are available and can be reasonably accessed by the patient.
F.(1) The written treatment plan is subject to reviews before the court with the patient and at least one representative of the treatment team. The initial frequency shall be stipulated in the treatment plan and modified with the court's approval.
(2) The court order required blood or laboratory testing shall be subject to review after six months by the physician, psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner, or psychologist who developed the written treatment plan or who is designated by the director, and the blood or laboratory testing may be terminated without further action of the court. Acts 2008, No. 407, §2; Acts 2009, No. 384, §5, eff. July 1, 2010; Acts 2017, No. 369, §2; Acts 2018, No. 206, §1; Acts 2018, No. 375, §1.
