Health & Saf. Code, § 1262 · Article 1. General
Health & Saf. Code, § 1262
Text — As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
(a) When a mental health patient is being discharged from one of the facilities specified in subdivision (c), the patient and the patient’s conservator, guardian, or other legally authorized representative, as applicable, shall be given a written aftercare plan prior to the patient’s discharge from the facility. The written aftercare plan shall include, to the extent known, all of the following components:
(1) The nature of the illness and followup required.
(2) Medications including side effects and dosage schedules. If the patient was given an informed consent form with their medications, the form shall satisfy the requirement for information on side effects of the medications.
(3) Expected course of recovery.
(4) Recommendations regarding treatment that are relevant to the patient’s care.
(5) Referrals to providers of medical and mental health services.
(6) Other relevant information.
(b) The patient shall be advised by facility personnel that they may designate another person to receive a copy of the aftercare plan. A copy of the aftercare plan shall be given to any person designated by the patient.
(c) Subdivision (a) applies to all of the following facilities:
(1) A state mental hospital.
(2) A general acute care hospital as described in subdivision (a) of Section 1250.
(3) An acute psychiatric hospital as described in subdivision (b) of Section 1250.
(4) A psychiatric health facility as described in Section 1250.2.
(5) A mental health rehabilitation center as described in Section 5675 of the Welfare and Institutions Code.
(6) A skilled nursing facility with a special treatment program, as described in Section 51335 and Sections 72443 to 72475, inclusive, of Title 22 of the California Code of Regulations.
(7) A psychiatric residential treatment facility as described in Section 1250.10.
(d) For purposes of this section, “mental health patient” means a person who is admitted to the facility primarily for the diagnosis or treatment of a mental disorder.
Notes and commentary — not statutory text
History
Amended by Stats. 2022, Ch. 589, Sec. 5. (AB 2317) Effective January 1, 2023.
Source of truth
- Edition
- As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
- Official file
- https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=HSC§ionNum=1262.
- Text hash
- sha256 843ba9f40480b12154e9d906b8ff10015b1de7fa88028961b9453f6263764f1d
- Composed by
- compose_ca.py 2026-10-22: the Legislative Counsel's CAML content files read by a tokenizer (caml_readers.reader_a); an independent xml.etree reading (caml_readers.reader_b) agrees on every section
This section cites
Provisions in this library that the text above cites, as it prints each citation. A range cited as “ss. 61.13-61.16” links its first and last provisions.
Cited by 4 provisions
Provisions in this library whose text cites Health & Saf. Code, § 1262. Each shows the citation as that text prints it.
Welfare and Institutions Code
- Welf. & Inst. Code, § 4081Printed as Section 1262 of the Health and Safety Code
- Welf. & Inst. Code, § 5402.5Printed as Sections 1262 and 1262.5 of the Health and Safety Code
- Welf. & Inst. Code, § 5622Printed as Section 1262 of the Health and Safety Code
- Welf. & Inst. Code, § 16010.10Printed as Section 1262 of the Health and Safety Code
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