Court approved new rules for overseeing assisted outpatient treatment programs.

Court approved new rules for overseeing assisted outpatient treatment programs.

The Supreme Court of Ohio has approved new rules for overseeing assisted outpatient treatment programs operated by probate courts.

The changes to the Rules of Superintendence for the Courts of Ohio offer oversight of assisted outpatient treatment programs (AOT). An AOT is an alternative to traditional civil commitment to a mental hospital or inpatient treatment facility. Under the rule, each probate court that has an assisted outpatient treatment must adopt a comprehensive local rule governing the practice of using community-based outpatient services to treat a “person with mental illness subject to court order.”

Under R.C. 5122.01(B), a probate court can commit a person adjudicated with a mental illness to a mental hospital or inpatient facility using the traditional civil commitment process. The law also permits AOT as another option. When AOT is ordered, the individual is committed to the local Alcohol, Drug Addiction, and Mental Health Services (ADAMHS) board. The ADAMHS board oversees the individual’s treatment by a community-based provider, using a treatment plan developed by the provider. The committing court conducts routine status hearings with the individual, treatment provider, ADAMHS, and others involved in monitoring the individual’s progress.

The Court’s Advisory Committee on Children and Families, which proposed the rule changes, noted that individuals eligible for AOT experience severe mental illness, and oftentimes have been stabilized through inpatient treatment. Transferring them to AOT frees up bed space at inpatient facilities and hospitals for those presenting more significant risks, the committee explains.

Rule 79.01 includes a definition of an AOT program, presents the necessary content that must be in a local rule, and outlines the responsibilities of the court.

The local rule must include the eligibility requirements for AOT candidates, the procedures for selecting and referring individuals to AOT, and the criteria for successful completion. The rule also must specify procedures for ADAMHS, providers, attorneys, and others to make confidential filings during the civil commitment process, along with procedures for notifying parties and other participants when necessary, and methods for conducting the initial review and subsequent reviews of the program.

The new rule directs courts to specify their responsibilities in forming a multidisciplinary team to provide AOT, how it will monitor program participants, how it will evaluate the treatment period, and how it will maintain confidentiality. Finally, the rules must show how the court will evaluate program outcomes.

Additionally, the Court adopted a companion change to Judicial Conduct Rule 2.9. This will allow courts administering an AOT program to engage in ex parte communication and assume a more interactive role with parties, hospitals, treatment providers, ADAMHS boards, probation or law enforcement officers, social workers, and others involved in monitoring treatment.