As used in this article, the term:
- “Adult residential mental health program” means a subacute residential alternative service of four or more residential beds authorized to provide psychiatric services for mentally ill persons 18 years of age or older that operates 24 hours per day, 7 days per week to provide intensive short-term noninstitutional treatment to individuals who are temporarily in need of a 24-hour-per-day supportive therapeutic setting for prevention of or transition from or after acute psychiatric hospitalization. Such term shall not include crisis stabilization units, as defined in Code Section 37-1-29; community living arrangements, as defined by the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities; mental health programs conducted by accountability courts; or residential beds operated by a state or local public entity.
- “Applicant” means any individual affiliated with a partnership, corporation, association, or individuals or groups of individuals submitting an application to operate an adult residential mental health program under this article.
- “Department” means the Department of Community Health.
- “Governing body” means the partnership, corporation, limited liability company, association, or person or group of persons who maintains and controls the adult residential mental health program and who is legally responsible for its operation.
- “License” means the official permit issued by the department which authorizes the holder to operate an adult residential mental health program.
- “Licensee” means any person holding a license issued by the department under this article.
- “Mentally ill person” means a person who has significant deficits in functioning affecting social and family relationships, work, self-care, educational goals, or legal involvements due to his or her primary diagnosis or assessment of a psychotic disorder, mood disorder, anxiety disorder, dissociative disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, adjustment disorder, personality disorder, or trauma and stress related disorder as listed in the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) or the World Health Organization’s International Classification of Diseases, in effect as of July 1, 2022, or as the department may further define such term by rule and regulation.
History. Code 1981, § 37-3-202 , enacted by Ga. L. 2022, p. 587, § 1/HB 1069.