130th MAINE LEGISLATURE
		LD 785		LR 532(01)
	An Act To Change the Standard for Assessing Risk of Serious Harm
	Preliminary Fiscal Impact Statement for Original Bill
	Sponsor: Rep. Cardone of Bangor
	Committee: Judiciary
	Fiscal Note Required: Yes
Preliminary Fiscal Impact Statement
Potential current biennium cost increase - General Fund
Fiscal Detail and Notes
	This bill allows a medical practitioner to consider a person's treatment history, current behavior and inability to make an informed decision in determining whether there is a likelihood of serious harm when examining a patient for the purposes of recommending hospitalization. Current law allows this consideration only for progressive treatment programs. Expanding the criteria could increase the number of referrals to the state psychiatric hospitals. One new patient in a state psychiatric hospital has an annual room and board cost of $555,712.50 ($1,522.50 per day x 365). Since it is unknown how this revised language will be utilized by medical practitioners and how many new referrals would be made, no cost estimate is made at this time.