This bill focuses on enhancing child welfare and mental health services under the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services. It expands the definition of eligible employees to include employees of administrative services organizations and mandates the appointment of advocates for patients who are involuntarily hospitalized, ensuring these advocates have prior mental health advocacy experience. The bill also clarifies definitions related to child foster care, such as "fictive kin" and "foster family home," and establishes that individuals providing foster care must be licensed or approved by the department. Additionally, it removes outdated language regarding licensed foster care providers and introduces new standards for decision-making authority during a child's placement, while emphasizing the confidentiality of child abuse information.

Moreover, the bill amends various sections of the Iowa Code to enhance the confidentiality of dependent adult and child abuse information, allowing courts to authorize evaluations of suspected abuse cases and ensuring that dependent adult abuse information remains confidential with specific exceptions. It also addresses the management of funds for mental health and behavioral health services, appropriating funds from the region incentive fund and stipulating the transfer of unencumbered funds to the behavioral health fund by June 30, 2025. Lastly, the bill modifies the tax obligations for health maintenance organizations administering the medical assistance program, transitioning to a decreasing applicable percentage tax rate. The bill is effective immediately upon enactment and includes retroactive applicability for certain provisions.

Statutes affected:
Introduced: 97B.1A, 229.19, 229.14, 232.78, 232.95, 232.102, 234.1, 232.2, 237.1, 237.3, 237A.1, 237.4, 237.9, 217.30, 237.12, 237.13, 237.15, 237A.3A, 237C.1, 237C.3, 282.19, 414.22, 423.3, 235A.1, 235A.15, 235B.2, 235B.3, 235B.6, 249A.4, 232.68, 225C.7A, 432.1B