PILOT PROGRAM OF INDIVIDUALIZED RESIDENTIAL MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES.

SEC. 716. PILOT PROGRAM OF INDIVIDUALIZED RESIDENTIAL MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES. (a) Program Required.— (1) During fiscal year 1996, the Secretary of Defense, in consultation with the other administering Secretaries under chapter 55 of title 10, United States Code, shall implement a pilot program to provide residential and wraparound services to children described in paragraph (2) who are in need of mental health services. The Secretary shall implement the pilot program for an initial period of at least two years in a military health care region in which the TRICARE program has been implemented. (2) A child shall be eligible for selection to participate in the pilot program if the child is a dependent (as described in subparagraph (D) or (I) of section 1072(2) of title 10, United States Code) who— (A) is eligible for health care under section 1079 or 1086 of such title; and (B) has a serious emotional disturbance that is generally regarded as amenable to treatment. (b) Wraparound Services Defined— For purposes of this section, the term “wraparound services” means individualized mental health services that are provided principally to allow a child to remain in the family home or other least-restrictive and least-costly setting, but also are provided as an aftercare planning service for children who have received acute or residential care. Such term includes nontraditional mental health services that will assist the child to be maintained in the least-restrictive and least-costly setting. (c) Pilot Program Agreement.— Under the pilot program the Secretary of Defense shall enter into one or more agreements that require a mental health services provider under the agreement— (1) to provide wraparound services to a child described in subsection (a)(2); (2) to continue to provide such services as needed during the period of the agreement even if the child moves to another location within the same TRICARE program region during that period; and 110 STAT. 376 (3) to share financial risk by accepting as a maximum annual payment for such services a caserate reimbursement not in excess of the amount of the annual standard CHAMPUS residential treatment benefit payable (as determined in accordance with section 8.1 of chapter 3 of volume II of the CHAMPUS policy manual). (d) Report.— Not later than March 1, 1998, the Secretary of Defense shall submit to the Committee on Armed Services of the Senate and the Committee on National Security of the House of Representatives a report on the program carried out under this section. The report shall contain— (1) an assessment of the effectiveness of the program; and (2) the Secretary’s views regarding whether the program should be implemented throughout the military health care system.