(a) The Commissioner of Mental Health and Addiction Services shall certify intermediate duration acute psychiatric care beds in general hospitals to provide inpatient mental health services for adults with serious and persistent mental illness.

(b) The commissioner shall adopt regulations, in accordance with the provisions of chapter 54, to establish requirements for certification of intermediate duration acute psychiatric care beds in general hospitals and the process by which such beds shall be certified. In adopting such regulations, the commissioner shall consider the need for such beds.

(c) The commissioner shall implement policies and procedures to carry out the provisions of this section while in the process of adopting such policies and procedures in regulation form, provided notice of intent to adopt the regulations is published in the Connecticut Law Journal not later than twenty days after implementation. Such policies and procedures shall be valid until the time the final regulations are adopted.