53-21-601. Location and primary function of hospital. (1) The facility providing mental health care services at Warm Springs, Montana, is the Montana state hospital and as its primary function provides care and treatment of mentally ill persons.

(2) (a) The Montana state hospital is a mental health facility, as defined in 53-21-102, of the department of public health and human services for the care and treatment of mentally ill persons.

(b) The role of the Montana state hospital is to provide intensive inpatient psychiatric services, including those services necessary for transition to community care, as components in a comprehensive continuum of publicly and privately provided programs that emphasize treatment in the least restrictive environment.

(c) The mission of the Montana state hospital is to stabilize persons with severe mental illness and to return them to the community as soon as possible if adequate community-based support services are available.

(3) The department shall adopt rules to manage the state hospital patient population in a manner that will ensure emergency access to services, protect public and individual safety, provide active treatment, implement effective discharge planning, and ensure access to appropriate community-based services.