(a)  Any person who is a patient in a facility pursuant to this chapter shall have a right to receive the care and treatment that is necessary for and appropriate to the condition for which he or she was admitted or certified and from which he or she can reasonably be expected to benefit. Each patient shall have an individualized treatment plan. This plan shall be developed by appropriate mental health professionals, including a psychiatrist, and implemented as soon as possible — in any event no later than five (5) days after a patient’s voluntary admission or involuntary court certification. Each individual treatment plan shall be made in accordance with the professional regulations of each facility, and by way of illustration and, not limited to the following, shall contain:

(1)  A statement of the nature of the specific problems and specific needs of the patient;

(2)  A statement of the least restrictive treatment conditions necessary to achieve the purposes of certification or admission;

(3)  A description of intermediate and long-range treatment goals; and

(4)  A statement and rationale for the plan of treatment for achieving these intermediate and long-range goals.

Terms Used In Rhode Island General Laws 40.1-5-9

  • Care and treatment: means psychiatric care, together with such medical, nursing, psychological, social, rehabilitative, and maintenance services as may be required by a patient in association with the psychiatric care provided pursuant to an individualized treatment plan recorded in the patient's medical record. See Rhode Island General Laws 40.1-5-2
  • Facility: means any public or private hospital licensed by the Rhode Island department of health that maintains staff and facilities, including inpatient units, for the care and treatment of persons with psychiatric illness, psychiatric disorders, and/or psychiatric disabilities; and in order to operate pursuant to the Mental Health Act as codified in this chapter, such facility and/or inpatient unit must be approved by the director of the department of behavioral healthcare, developmental disabilities and hospitals upon application of such facility and/or inpatient unit, and any of the several community mental health services established pursuant to chapter 8. See Rhode Island General Laws 40.1-5-2
  • Patient: means a person admitted voluntarily, certified or re-certified admitted to a facility according to the provisions of this chapter. See Rhode Island General Laws 40.1-5-2
  • person: may be construed to extend to and include co-partnerships and bodies corporate and politic. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-6
  • Psychiatrist: means a person licensed by the Rhode Island department of health to practice medicine pursuant to chapter 37 of Title 5 who has, in addition, completed three (3) years of graduate psychiatric training in a program approved by the American Medical Association or American Osteopathic Association. See Rhode Island General Laws 40.1-5-2

(b)  The individualized treatment plan shall become part of the patient’s record in accordance with § 40.1-5-5(g), and the subject of periodic review in accordance with § 40.1-5-10. In implementing a treatment plan on behalf of any patient, the official in charge of any facility, or his or her designee(s), may, when it is warranted, authorize the release of the patient for such periods of time and under such terms and conditions that he or she deems appropriate.

History of Section.
P.L. 1974, ch. 119, § 1.