Universal Child Health Passport

Bill Name:  Children’s Mental Health Passport Bill: Creates a voluntary universal consent form to enable the efficient transfer of health and mental health records among providers; and the bill allows for continuous, informed, coordinated care for children, adolescents, and families.  Here are links to the Bills:

• Assembly Bill §8998: Sponsor Mark J. F. Schroeder

• Senate Bill §5985: Sponsor William T. Stachowski  

Current System:  In the current system, each health care agency has its own individual consents and when an individual goes from one agency to the next, sometimes it can take significant time for critical treatment information and historical information to follow. As a result, the treatment process can become ineffective. 

Why the Passport?:  With the Passport, designated individuals will be able to have their records more easily shared among providers when needed without delay. As a result, with mental health and health treatment records more easily be shared, treatment can be accomplished more efficiently and timely, with less barriers. Coordinated and streamlined care does not happen without smooth transfer of records and information. This bill seeks to make for a seamless system of information sharing between and among providers with a need to know.  

Why this matters to you:  According to current research, one in 91 children and one in 58 boys born in the United States will be diagnosed as being on the Autism Spectrum. You probably already have someone in your family or know a family who has a child on the Autism Spectrum. When an individual moves from one health care organization to the next families want don’t want to keep telling their story over and over. They would like to share information with the originating provider and trust that it will be compiled and become a comprehensive record. Only this way can an accurate diagnosis of the problem occur and proper treatment be prescribed.