Requires certain mental health professionals to complete training in suicide assessment, treatment, and management prior to licensure, and engage in continued training in suicide assessment, treatment, and management every six years as part of their continuing education requirements. This act takes effect on January 1, 2013.   Official Text and Analysis.

Makes a number of technical changes, among them removing the requirement that the suicide assessment, treatment, and management training be completed prior to initial licensure.

Exempts from the continuing education requirements physicians, osteopathic physicians, and nurses by specialty if the specialty in question does not involve primary care and involves only brief or limited patient contact. Clarifies that training programs in suicide assessment, treatment, and management must include the following elements: Suicide assessment, including screening and referral, suicide treatment, and suicide management. Allows a disciplining authority to approve training programs that do not include all of the elements if the excluded elements are inappropriate for the profession in question based on the profession's scope of practice. Requires training that includes only screening and referral to be at least three hours in length. Requires all other training to be at least six hours in length. Delays implementation of the continuing education requirement from January 1, 2013, to January 1, 2014. Delays the due date for the model list of training programs from December 15, 2012, to December 15, 2013. Exempts state and local government employees from the training requirements if they receive a total of at least six hours of training in suicide, training, and management from their employer every six years; allows the training to be provided in one six-hour block or spread among shorter training sessions. Allows persons licensed on or after the effective date of the act to delay the continuing education requirement for six years (eight years for physicians) if the licensee has successfully completed a training program on the Best Practices Registry no more than six years (eight years for physicians) prior to initial licensure. Removes persons holding a retired volunteer medical worker license from the continuing education requirements. Until January 1, 2020, allows a paramedic to be certified or recertified without completing the training; the paramedic must, however, complete the training prior to his or her next recertification. Corrects typographical errors.

Requires certain health professionals to complete training in suicide assessment, treatment, and management as part of their continuing education requirements.

Provides that the requirement that certain health care professionals must complete training in suicide assessment, treatment, and management every six years only applies to advisors and counselors, chemical dependency professionals, marriage and family therapists, mental health counselors, occupational therapists, psychologists, and social workers. Employees of licensed community mental health agencies are exempt from the training requirements if they receive training on in suicide assessment and treatment from their employer. Such trainings may be provided in one six-hour block or incrementally. The board of occupational therapy practice may exempt occupational therapist from the training requirements of the bill by specialty, if the specialty in question has limited patient contact. Requires the Secretary of Health to study the effect of suicide assessment, treatment and management training on the ability of health care professionals to identify, refer, treat, and manage suicide ideation.

Provides that employees of certified dependency programs are exempt from the training requirements if they receive equivalent training from their employer.

Requires certain health professionals to complete training in suicide assessment, treatment, and management as part of their continuing education requirements. Requires the Secretary of Health to study evaluating the effect of training in suicide assessment, treatment, and management on the ability of health professionals to identify, treat, and manage patients with suicidal ideation.