The Florida Mental Health Act (The Baker Act) 2000 Annual Report

The Florida Mental Health Act
(The Baker Act)
2000 Annual Report
Prepared for the Florida Agency for Health Care

Administration
By the
Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute

Department of Mental Health Law & Policy
Policy and Services Research Data Center
Annette C. McGaha, Ph.D.
Paul G. Stiles, J.D., Ph.D.
July 2001
For Information Contact:
Dr. Annette McGaha, Assistant Professor

13301 Bruce B. Downs Blvd., MHC 2620
Tampa, Florida 33612-3807
(813) 974-7419
mcgaha@fmhi.usf.edu
For additional copies and information about the Baker Act go to http://bakeract.fmhi.usf.edu
The Florida Mental Health Act (Baker Act) 2000 Annual Report Page 1
TABLE OF CONTENTS
New This Year ................................................................................................. 3
Report Highlights ............................................................................................ 4
Introduction.................................................................................................... 5
Technical Notes About Data Analyses.............................................................. 7
State Level Analyses........................................................................................ 8
Analysis of Data for Indivdiuals with Multiple Baker Act Intiations....... 19
Circuit, District and County Level Analyses ................................................... 23
Judicial Circuits .................................................................................. 24
Department of Children & Families Districts and Florida Counties....... 27
AHCA Field Offices............................................................................... 33
Facility Level Analyses................................................................................... 34
Appendix A: Overview of Baker Act Provisions ............................................... 40
Appendix B: Map of Florida Counties and Districts........................................ 47
Appendix C: Florida Baker Act Receiving Facilities......................................... 49
NEW THIS YEAR
• Expanded analyses based on more refined age categories (see page 15).
• Expanded analysis of individuals with more than one initiation (see pages 20-23)
• Detailed analyses based on Judicial Circuits (see pages 36 to 38)
• Continuous enhancements to the Baker Act Reporting Center website at:

http://bakeract.fmhi.usf.edu
REPORT HIGHLIGHTS
• The Baker Act Reporting Center at the Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health
Institute received and entered data from 83,989 Baker Act Initiation Forms in
calendar year 2000. Data were analyzed from 80,869 forms, with 2,990 identified
duplicate forms and 130 forms not from identified Baker Act Receiving Facilities
taken out of the analyses.
• The number of forms received and entered has increased each year, from 69,235 in
1997 to 83,989 in 2000. The number is projected to exceed 90,000 for calendar
year 2001.
• The majority of Baker Act initiations were completed by mental health

professionals (51%), followed by law enforcement officials (44%) and judges (4%).
• The most common evidence type indicated was “harm only” (69%), followed by
“neglect only” (19%), and “both neglect and harm” (6%).
• No evidence type was indicated for 6% of forms. No evidence type was indicated on
30% of forms completed by judges, on 8% of forms completed by mental health
professionals and 2% of forms completed by law enforcement officials.
• The median length of time between form initiation and receipt at the Baker Act
Reporting Center in Tampa was 6 days.
• The median age of individuals subject to Baker Act initiation was 37 years, with
almost 19% of initiations for individuals 17 years and younger and slightly over
10% of initiations for individuals 65 years and older.
• A small majority of individuals were male (51%).
• The majority of individuals were White (72%), with the remaining clients being
Black (18%), Hispanic (8%), Asian (<1%) and other (2%).
• Between April 1, 1999 and December 31, 2000, there were 15,879 individuals who
had multiple Baker Act examinations initiated. These persons with multiple
initiations were involuntarily examined a median of 2 times (Mean = 2.9; SD = 1.78;
Min = 2; Max = 43) and accounted for 46,560 initiations.
INTRODUCTION
In 1971, the Florida Legislature enacted the Florida Mental Health Act, a
comprehensive revision of the state’s mental health commitment laws. The
law is known as the “Baker Act” in honor of Maxine Baker, the former state
representative from Miami who sponsored the Act. Since the Baker Act
became effective, multiple legislative amendments have been enacted to
protect individuals’ civil and due process rights.
The Baker Act is a central point where courts, law enforcement, hospitals,
mental health professionals, attorneys, advocates, and state/county
governments interact. Failure to properly implement this Act can endanger
the lives of vulnerable individuals and the safety of communities. Failure
can also result in persons with serious mental illnesses being housed in jails
and homeless shelters. While the law acts to protect individuals and
communities, it permits the denial of individual liberty without prior due
process. An overview of the Baker Act is presented in Appendix A.
The 1996 Florida Legislature substantially reformed the law. These reforms
included greater protection for persons on voluntary and involuntary status,
strengthened informed consent and guardian advocacy provisions, expanded
notice requirements, and provided for suspension and withdrawal of
receiving and treatment facility designations. The substantial protection
provided by the Baker Act helps to ensure that such intrusive and restrictive
treatment is used appropriately to promote positive outcomes.
One revision in the law requires all receiving facilities to send a copy of every
form initiating an involuntary examination (i.e., law enforcement officer
reports, mental health professional certificates and court orders) to the
Florida Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) on the next working
day after the person arrives at a receiving facility. The Policy and Services
Research Data Center at the Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute
serves as the repository of these forms and carries out the data entry and
analytic functions for the AHCA. The information on these forms is
confidential and is only used for aggregating data to report on the
characteristics of individuals subject to Baker Act, the facilities involved with
the Baker Act, and the system in general. Federal funding to support this
data collection and analysis function will expire this year.
Florida is the only state in the country that collects this type of involuntary
examination and civil commitment data -- over 80,000 examinations a year.
Florida is unique in being able to analyze the patterns of involuntary
examinations by various demographic characteristics, by type of professional
initiating the examination, by type of self-neglect or danger exhibited by the
person, and many other factors.
The Baker Act also requires AHCA to submit an annual report to the
Department of Children and Families, the President of the Senate, the Speaker
of the House of Representatives, and the minority leaders of the Senate and
House of Representatives. This is the fourth Annual Report and it includes
initiation forms received from January 1, 2000 through December 31, 2000,
with some additional analyses of data received from April 1, 1999 through
December 31, 2000.
Data for calendar year 2000 were analyzed at the state, district, judicial circuit,
county and facility levels, and are presented in this report. For more current
information about the Baker Act and the Reporting Center, please visit the USF
Florida Mental Health Institute website at http://bakeract.fmhi.usf.edu.
TECHNICAL NOTES ABOUT DATA ANALYSES
Cover Sheet Data
For purposes of this report, duplicate forms were defined as any forms that were
initiated with the same social security number on cover sheets attached to
initiation forms dated within three (3) days of each other. Given that the Baker Act
allows for a maximum of 72-hour to conduct the involuntary examination, forms
initiated within three days of each other are likely to be for the same initiation or
episode of care. Forms received with no initiation date (1,424 or 1.7%) or no social
security number (10,193 or 12.2%) were included in the analysis, with the
realization that a small number of these could be duplicates but that they could
not be identified as such without this missing information.
Of the 83,989 forms were received in calendar year 2000, 2,991 were identified as
duplicates. These 2,991 forms represent 4.1% of the 73,796 forms that contained
social security numbers
Forms Received from Non-Baker Baker Act Receiving Facilities

Not all Baker Act forms received by the BA Reporting Center could be identified as
coming from a designated Baker Act Receiving Facility because of difficult to read
or non-existent information on the cover sheet, or the absence of a cover sheet.
The return address on the envelope in which the forms were sent was used to
clarify the facility name when this information was not evident from the cover
sheet or when no cover sheet was sent.
A total of 125 or .15% of total forms received were sent from facilities that could
not be identified as Baker Act Receiving Facilities (see Table 1). A smaller number,
5 or .006% of forms, had no facility information on them and no return address on
the envelope, and so were completely unidentifiable.
Table 1: Non-Baker Act Receiving Facilities

Facility Count
Town & Country Hospital 38
Ocala Regional Medical Center 10
Boca Raton Community Hospital 72
Other 5
Total 125
Data analyses were conducted on 80,869 forms (83,989 received, minus 125 from
facilities that are not designated Baker Act Receiving Facilities, minus 5 from
1
facilities that could not be identified, minus 2,990 identified duplicates = 80,869).
Some percentages do not sum to 100% due to rounding.
1
One duplicate was also one of the 125 from a facility that was not a Baker Act Receiving Facility, so the total duplicates was 2,991
STATE LEVEL ANALYSES
The number of forms received at the BA Reporting Center has increased

between 5% and 7% per calendar year since data have been collected.
Figure 1: Count of Forms Received in Calendar Years 1997 through 2000
100,000 The 83,989 Baker Act forms received in

80,000
2000 is higher than the 78,064 received in
1999, 73,900 received in 1998 and the
60,000
69,235 received in 1997. These increases
40,000 may indicate an increase in involuntary
20,000 examinations overall, or could merely
reflect better reporting by receiving
0
1997 1998 1999 2000 facilities.
As discussed in the Technical Section above, analyses were conducted on the

80,869 unduplicated forms received from identified Baker Act Receiving
Facilities.
The number of initiations fluctuated somewhat over the year 2000, with
approximately 6,739 (SD = 549.50) forms received each month or
approximately 322 forms received each business day (see Figure 2). Due to
practicalities of data entry and reporting, all forms received on or after January
1, 2000 were entered into the 2000 Baker Act data. This means that a small
percentage of the 78,064 forms received in 2000 (1,430 or 1.7%) were for Baker
Act Certificates initiated in 1999.
Figure 2: Number of Baker Act Initiation Forms Received Per Month
9000
8000
7000
6000
5000
4000
3000
2000
1000
0
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Baker Act Receiving Facilities are designated by the Department of Children
and Families as either public or private. Facilities designated as public may
2
receive public funds for Baker Act examinations. For the purposes of this
report, the identification of facility type relies on the accurate identification of
the facility submitting the Baker Act form. A slight majority of the forms
(55%) were received from public facilities, with the remaining 45% coming
3
from private facilities.
Certificates can be completed by mental health professionals, law

enforcement officials, or by a judge. The majority of initiation forms were
completed by mental health professionals (41,503 or 51%), followed by law
enforcement officials (35,862 or 44%), and judges (3,504 or 4%), as presented
in Figure 3.
Figure 3: Certificate Types
Ex-parte
4%
Mental Health
Law Professionals
Enforcement 51%
44%
2
This does not mean that all initiations from facilities designated as “Public” facilities are paid for with public funds, it only indicates
that the examination may be paid for with public funds. The distribution of public funds to Baker Act Receiving Facilities designated
as public is at the discretion of each of the Department of Children and Families districts.
3
Two facilities in the Tallahassee area, Apalachee Center for Human Services (publicly funded) and Eastside Psychiatric Hospital
(privately funded) sent in forms that appeared from the cover sheet to be from Apalachee Center for Human Services. Two facilities
in Bradenton, Manatee Glens Hospital (privately funded) and Manatee Glens Hospital CSU (publicly funded), were entered as the
publicly funded Manatee Glens Hospital CSU. This means that the count of forms received from publicly funded facilities is slightly
elevated due to the inclusion of the unknown number of forms from the privately funded Eastside facility and Manatee Glens
Hospital as from the publicly funded facilities. FMHI staff have been in communication with these facilities regarding this issue, so
that in the future forms from these facilities can be differentiated.
Eighty-four percent or 34,656 of the 41,503 forms completed by mental health
professionals indicated the “professional type” on the form by checking one of
the boxes provided on the forms for the collection of this information. The
majority of these forms (29,612 or 85%) were completed by physicians. Social
workers (3,213 or 9%), clinical psychologists (978 or 3%) and nurses (853 or
3%) also completed initiation forms.
The Baker Act form used for 2000 required the initiator to check on the form
one of the following reasons as evidence justifying the examination.
• without care, the person is likely to suffer from neglect resulting in real and
present threat of substantial harm that cannot be avoided through the help
of others; or
• there is substantial likelihood that without care and treatment the person
will cause serious bodily harm to self or others in the future, as evidenced
by recent behavior.
One of the following was then recorded in the database.
• “neglect”
• “harm”
• both neglect and harm (both categories checked)
• neither neglect nor harm (neither category checked)
Figure 4: Distribution of Evidence Type
Statewide, only “neglect” was

Neglect & Neither
indicated on 19% (15,131) of the Harm
Neglect
6% Only
certificates and only “harm” was 6%
19%
checked on 69% (55,948) of the
certificates. Both “neglect” and
“harm” were indicated on 6%
(5,754) of the Baker Act forms.
Neither neglect nor harm was
4
checked on 6% (5,063). Figure 4
shows the distribution of evidence
type.
Harm Only
69%
4
The “Neither” evidence type indicates that the boxes on the forms meant to indicate the evidence type were left blank. Although
forms also contain written information documenting the evidence type, the volume of data received and the ambiguity of some
information means that in the absence of a check evidence type box written information cannot be interpreted to determine the
evidence type.
Figure 5 shows the distribution of the four evidence types across the three
professional groups who completed forms. While judges did not check the type
of evidence on 30% of their forms and professionals did not check an evidence
type for 8% of their forms, law enforcement officials failed to check the type of
evidence on only 2% of their forms. Harm only (judge 32%; professional 62%;
law enforcement 82%) was the most often chosen evidence type.
This was followed by neglect only for professionals 24% and law enforcement
13% and both neglect and harm for judges (21%). Neglect and harm was the
least often indicated evidence type for professional (6%) and law enforcement
(4%), while neglect was the least often indicated evidence type by judges (17%).
Figure 5: Certificate Type by Evidence Type
100
90
Neglect
80
Harm
70
Both
% of forms
60
50 Neither
40
30
20
10
0
Judge Professional Law Enforcement
The type of harm evidenced (to self, others, or both) has been requested on
forms as of 1998. Of the 60,702 forms indicating harm (either harm only or
5
both harm and neglect), only 49,920 or 82% had a harm type indicated. This
varied considerably by professional type. While judges indicated harm type on
only 21% of forms, law enforcement officials (84%) and mental health
professionals (84%) indicated harm type on a higher percentage of forms.
5
This is an improvement from the data received in calendar year 1999, which had 59% of the forms indicating the specific type of
harm for forms indicating harm as an evidence type. The improvement in the completion of data was seen in the forms completed by
mental health professionals (64% improved to 84%) and law enforcement officials (69% improved to 84%).
Figure 6 presents the distribution of harm type. Harm to self only was the
most frequently indicated type (35,134 or 70%), followed by harm to others
only (4,490 or 9%) and both harm to self and others (10,296 or 21%).
Figure 6: Distribution of Harm Type
Both
21%
Harm to
others
Harm to self
9%
70%
Figure 7 shows the distribution of the harm types across the three
professional groups who completed forms. Combining percentages for those
checking harm to self only and both harm to self and others means that
harm to self was indicated on the large majority of forms (91%) for which a
harm type was checked. Harm to others only was indicated on a minority of
forms (30%). While mental health professionals (77%) and law enforcement
officials (65%) indicated harm to self most frequently, judges indicated both
harm to self and others (44%) and harm to self (38%) with similar regularity.
Figure 7: Certificate Type by Harm Type
100
90
80 Harm to self
70 Harm to others
% of forms
60 Both
50
40
30
20
10
0
Judge Professional Law Enforcement
Statewide Demographic Analyses
The summary of the demographic background of those individuals subject to
involuntary examination in Florida is available from information collected on
the cover sheet completed by Baker Act Receiving Facility staff. A total of
70,798 forms received with social security numbers represented data from
56,519 clients. The following demographic analyses were conducted on data
from these 56,519 clients.
Age
The median age from 48,148 initiation forms with a complete date of birth was
37 years (mean or average = 39; SD = 19.72). Age information by age categories
6
is presented in Table 2 and Figure 8.
7
Figure 8: Number of Initiations by Age Categories
9000
8000
7000
6000
5000
4000
3000
2000
1000
0
<6 6-10 11-13 14-17 18-24 25-29 30-34 35-39 40-44 45-49 40-54 55-59 60-64 65-69 70-74 75-79 80-84 85-89 90+
6
Most of the age categories presented in Table 2 and Figure 8 include 5 years. However, some of the age ranges of children are slightly wider or
shorter than five years so that the certain critical age brackets were created. For example, the age bracket of 11 to 13 (3 years in length) was used
because these are typically the ages of children when they are in middle school. Similarly, the 4 year range from 14 to 17 was used because this is
typically high school age.
7
The N’s or counts per cell in Table 2 and percentages represented in Figure 8 are for initiations. Because some individuals had more than one
initiation in the calendar year, this means that the numbers in Table 2 and Figure 7 do NOT represent the number of people.
Although the majority of initiations were for individuals in their middle years,
almost 19% of initiations were for individuals 17 and younger and slightly over
10% of initiations were for individuals 65 years and older.
Table 2: Age Specific Analyses by Number of Involuntary Initiations
Age N % Certificate Type Evidence Type in %

Ranges
MH Prof Law Enf Judge Neglect Harm Both Neither
N % N % N % N % N % N % N %
1 to 5 97 <1 59 61 31 32 7 7 4 4 81 84 6 6 6 6
6 to 10 1,680 2 619 37 1,004 60 57 3 95 6 1,453 86 64 4 68 4
11 to 13 3,415 5 978 29 2,320 68 117 3 215 6 2,986 87 117 3 97 3
14 to 17 8,557 12 2,915 34 5,207 61 435 5 707 8 7,156 84 363 4 331 4
18 to 24 8,552 12 4,138 48 4,075 48 339 4 1,242 15 6,412 75 418 5 480 6
25 to 29 5,532 8 2,918 53 2,410 44 204 4 837 15 4,066 73 286 5 343 6
30 to 34 6,566 9 3,545 54 2,763 42 258 4 1,110 17 4,744 72 364 6 348 5
35 to 39 8,426 11 4,574 54 3,493 41 359 4 1,488 18 5,942 71 482 6 514 6
40 to 44 8,412 11 4,567 54 3,463 41 382 5 1,621 19 5,710 68 531 6 550 7
45 to 49 6,151 8 3,401 55 2,472 40 278 5 1,269 21 4,041 66 431 7 410 7
50 to 54 4,079 6 2,337 57 1,531 38 211 5 994 24 2,518 62 268 7 299 7
55 to 59 2,670 4 1,578 59 922 35 170 6 742 28 1,501 56 186 7 241 9
60 to 64 1,659 2 1,041 63 524 32 94 6 562 34 842 51 120 7 135 8
65 to 69 1,482 2 955 64 448 30 79 5 515 33 707 48 130 9 130 9
70 to 74 1,532 2 1,075 70 384 25 73 5 533 35 708 46 137 9 154 10
75 to 79 1,599 2 1,193 75 353 22 53 3 604 38 710 44 132 9 153 10
80 to 84 1,404 2 1,091 78 285 20 28 2 535 38 600 43 128 9 141 10
85 to 89 996 1 783 79 198 20 15 2 373 37 448 45 86 9 89 9

90+ 484 1 391 81 85 18 8 2 192 40 205 42 45 10 42 9
Total 73,293* 38,158 31,968 3167 13,638 50,830 4,294 4,531
*This number is less than the 80,869 unduplicated records analyzed because date of birth information
necessary for the computation of age was missing from some initiation forms.
Gender
A total of 72,088 forms indicated a gender, with 51% indicating the person was
male (49% indicated female).
8
Race/Ethnicity
The individual completing the cover sheet is asked to write in the race of the
client in a blank labeled “race.” Forms with Black, African-American or
abbreviations of these (such as “AA” and “B”) were coded as Black. Forms
with White, Caucasian or abbreviations of these (“C”, “CA”, and “W”) were
coded as White. Forms with Hispanic or abbreviations for this term (“H” or
“Hisp”) were coded as Hispanic. The information written in this field does
tell us the perception of the individual completing the form.
As presented in Figure 9, a total of 65,908 forms indicated a race/ethnicity.
The majority of these individuals were White (72%), followed by Black (18%),
Hispanic (8%), Other (2%) and Asian (<1%).
Figure 9: Race/Ethnicity of Clients
Other
Hispanic
2%
8%
Black
18%
Asian
Asian
0%
<1%
White
72%
Combinations of Demographic Information
Age by Gender and Race

Table 3 presents the mean age of persons committed by gender and race.
Women were on average older than men. Hispanic and White persons who
were involuntarily examined were on average older than Asian and Black
individuals.
8
The term “race/ethnicity” is used because race terms (e.g., White, Black) and ethnicity terms (Hispanic) were written on the form in
a blank marked “race.” A more accurate approach is to determine the race of the client and then ask whether he/she is of Hispanic
origin. The current cover sheet does not require this distinction.
Table 3: Age by Gender and Race
Mean Age Standard #
Deviation
Gender
Males 36.65 18.44 37,092
Females 38.53 19.71 34,996
Race/Ethnicity
White 38.75 19.38 47,915
Black 32.60 16.57 11,788
Hispanic 38.91 20.61 4,976
Asian 34.05 15.88 178
Table 4 presents the mean age of persons committed by certificate and

evidence type. Clients whose forms were completed by mental health
professionals were older than those with forms completed by judges or law
enforcement officials. Clients with an evidence type of neglect only were older
than those with both evidence types or harm only.
Table 4: Age by Certificate Type and Evidence Type

Mean Age Standard #
Deviation
Certificate Type
Mental Health Professional 41.50 19.87 41,503
Judges 33.14 17.36 35,862
Law Enforcement 37.54 17.96 3,504
Evidence Type
Neglect only 46.24 20.38 15,131
Neglect and Harm 34.56 17.76 55,948
Harm only 42.65 20.10 4,754
Gender by Race
The 32,871 men and 31,436 females whose forms also contained information
on race/ethnicity were quite similar in overall percentages of race ethnicity.
The majority of persons committed were White, followed by Black, Hispanic,
Other and Asian. Table 5 provides this information.
Table 5: Gender by Race
Race Ethnicity Males Females
# of % # of %
Initiations Initiations
White 23,921 73% 22,872 73%
Black 6,045 18% 5,463 17%
Hispanic 2,383 7% 2,434 8%
Asian 75 <1% 95 <1%
Other 447 1% 572 2%
Certification Type by Gender and Race

Table 6 presents the gender and race of the persons committed by certificate
type. While mental health professional initiations were almost equal for males
(49%) and females (51%), law enforcement officials and judges had initiations
for slightly more males (law enforcement 54%; judges 58%) than females.
Table 6: Certificate Type by Gender and Race

MH Professionals Law Enforcement Judges
Gender
# of % # of % # of %
Initiations Initiations Initiations
Males 18,211 49% 17,088 54% 1,793 58%
Females 19,228 51% 14,467 46% 1,301 42%
Race/Ethnicity
White 24,867 73% 21,119 73% 1,929 68%
Black 5,460 16% 5,652 19% 676 24%
Hispanic 3,043 9% 1,751 6% 182 6%
Asian 86 <1% 83 <1% 9 <1%
Other 615 2% 383 1% 53 2%
Evidence Type by Gender and Race
Table 7 presents the gender and race of the persons committed by evidence
type, for forms indicating an evidence type. While males had harm only
indicated as evidence on 76% of their forms, females had harm indicated on
72% of their forms. Females were more likely to have neglect indicated on their
forms (females 22%; males 18%). Harm and neglect both were indicated on 6%
of forms for male and female clients.
Forms for White and Asian clients more often indicated harm as evidence (75%
for both) than those for Black (71%) or Hispanic clients (69%) clients. Neglect
was more often indicated for Hispanic clients (23%), closely followed by Black
(22%), Asian (19%) and White (19%) clients. Both evidence types were
indicated for 8% of Hispanic, 7% of Black and 6% of White and Asian clients.
Table 7: Evidence Type by Gender and Race/Ethnicity

Neglect Only Harm Only Harm & Neglect
Gender
# of % # of % # of %
Initiations Initiations Initiations
Males 6,200 18% 26,455 76% 2,222 6%
Females 7,246 22% 23,492 72% 2,007 6%
Race/Ethnicity
White 8,602 19% 33,849 75% 2,667 6%
Black 2,433 22% 7,805 71% 722 7%
Hispanic 1,049 23% 3,115 69% 363 8%
Asian 33 19% 129 75% 10 6%
Other 225 24% 664 69% 74 8%
Statewide Analysis of Individuals in the System Multiple Times for data
from April 1, 19999 through December 31, 2000
There were 139,389 Baker Act initiation forms received in the 21-month period
from April 1, 1999 through December 31, 2000. Approximately 16% (22,143)
of these forms were missing either the social security number or date of
initiation necessary to identify forms received for the same individual over this
time period. Therefore, the data available for this analysis came from the
117,246 forms received with both a social security number and a date of
initiation during the analysis period of interest. This means that the number of
individuals in the system more than one time and the number of initiations for
these individuals is likely to be undercounted by this analysis because some
forms for these individuals were missing the information necessary to conduct
the analysis.
The 15,879 individuals who had multiple Baker Act examinations were
examined a median of 2 times during the 21-month period (Mean = 2.9 times,
SD = 1.78; Min = 2; Max = 43) and accounted for 46,560 unduplicated forms
10
received.
The method used to identify duplicates bears repeating here because it affects
those identified as having more than one Baker Act initiation. A duplicate form
was defined as any form that was initiated with the same social security
number on the cover sheets dated within three (3) days of another. Given that
the Baker Act allows for a maximum 72-hour to conduct the involuntary
examination, forms initiated within three days of each other are likely for the
same initiation. Nevertheless, this assumption leads to the possible
undercounting of multiple initiations, because an unknown percentage of
forms identified as duplicates could represent actual repeat initiation.
Age
The median age of clients at the time of initiation for the 45,622 with a date of
birth on the cover sheet was 37.15 years (Median = 37.15; SD = 17.56). This is
close to the median age of 37 from calendar year 2000 data.
9
Client identifying information (ssn) was recorded in the database as of 4/1/99, which allows for this analysis.
10
These 15,879 individuals also had 502 forms received that were missing the date of initiation, with data from these forms not
included in this analysis. While some of these forms are likely duplicates (received on the same day or within three days of another)
some represent additional contacts with the Baker Act system, highlighting the point that these numbers likely represent a slight
undercounting of multiple examinations.
Table 8 presents information for individuals with multiple initiations by age
category. The majority of individuals with more than one initiation were
between 18 and 49 (64%). A little over 17% of the initiations for individuals
with more than one initiation were for children (17 and younger). Slightly over
7% of these initiations were for individuals 65 years and older.
Table 8: Multiple Initiations by Age Categories
Age Ranges # of Initiations %
1 to 5 65 <1
6 to 10 1,313 3
11 to 13 2,311 5
14 to 17 4,253 9
18 to 24 4,394 10
25 to 29 3,584 8
30 to 34 4,484 10
35 to 39 6,027 13
40 to 44 6,143 14
45 to 49 4,183 9
50 to 54 2,695 6
55 to 59 1,653 4
60 to 64 1,039 2
65 to 69 892 2
70 to 74 785 2
75 to 79 719 2
80 to 84 585 1
85 to 89 320 <1
90+ 177 <1
Total 45,622*
*This number is slightly lower than the 46,560 records for

individuals with more than one initiation because the
information necessary to compute age (date of birth) was
not complete on the cover sheet for a minority of forms.
Gender
There were 44,499 forms indicating a gender for individuals with more than
one initiation. A majority of initiations (55%; N = 24,715 initiations) were for
males, with a minority of these initiations for females (45%; N = 19,784
initiations).
Race/Ethnicity
The majority of the 40,572 initiations for individuals with more than one
initiation indicated a race or ethnicity on their cover sheets. The majority of
initiations indicated a race/ethnicity of White (71%), followed by Black (21%),
Hispanic (7%), Other (1%) and Asian (<1%). Clients with more than one Baker
Act initiation were slightly less likely to be White (71% compared to 74% for the
entire sample) and more likely to be Black (21% compared to 18% for the entire
sample).
Certificate Type
Individuals who had more than one Baker Act initiation had 51% of their forms
completed by mental health professionals, 44% completed by law enforcement
officials, and 5% completed by judges. Information on the distribution of
certificate type according to the number of initiations is presented in Table 9.
Table 9: Certificate Type by Number of Initiations (4/1/99-12/31/00)

# of initiations Judge Mental Health Law # of # of
for persons Professional Enforcement Initiations Individuals
with…….
# % # % # %
2 to 5 2,006 5 19,672 52 16,515 43 38,193 14,839
initiations
6 to 10 172 3 3,030 48 3,108 49 6,310 893
initiations
11 to 15 19 1 712 50 690 49 1,421 115
initiations
>15 initiations 3 <1 265 42 368 58 636 32
Total 2,200 5% 23,679 51% 20,681 44% 46,560 15,879
Evidence Type
Harm only was indicated on 67% of the initiation forms for individuals with
more than one initiation from April 1, 1999 through December 31, 2000.
Neglect only was indicated on 20% of the initiation forms, followed by both
neglect and harm (7%) and neither (7%). Table 10 presents the results of this
analysis of evidence type.
Table 10: Evidence Type by Number of Initiations (4/1/99-12/31/00)
# of initiations for Neglect only Harm only Both Neither # of # of
persons with….. Initiations Indiv
# % # % # % # %
2 to 5 initiations 7,804 20 25,088 66 2,681 7 2,620 7 38,193 14,839
6 to 10 initiations 1,086 17 4,465 71 355 6 404 6 6,310 893
11to 15 initiations 195 14 1,080 71 80 6 66 5 1,421 115
>15 initiations 61 10 512 81 31 5 32 5 636 32
Total 9,146 20% 31,145 67% 3,147 7% 3,122 7% 46,560 15,879
JUDICIAL CIRCUIT, DEPARTMENT OF CHILDREN AND FAMILIES
DISTRICT, AHCA REGION AND COUNTY LEVEL ANALYSES
The following analyses present data according to Florida Judicial Districts,

Department of Children and Families Districts (see Appendix B) and the
counties comprising those districts. Data aggregated by judicial circuit and
Department of Children and Families District, as well as by each county, are
presented according to the county of initiation, which is not necessarily the
same as the County of the Baker Act Receiving Facility. For example, law
enforcement officers completing a Baker Act form for an individual in a county
with no Baker Act facility by necessity would initiate Baker Act forms in a
different county than the facility. Also, individuals are to be brought to the
closest Baker Act facility, which may be in an adjacent county.
Note that the Department of Children and Families reconfigured some of their
districts in 2000. Nevertheless, the “old” district configuration that was in
place at the beginning of 2000 is being used.
Data are summarized by Judicial Circuit in Tables 11, 12 and 13. Forms
received according to Department of Children and Families District and County
of Initiation are presented in Table 14 and 15 according to certificate type and
evidence type respectively.
Table 16 presents the number of Baker Act Initiations according to the eight
Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) field offices.
ANALYSES BY FLORIDA JUDICIAL CIRCUITS
Table 11 summarizes data according to the 20 Florida Judicial Circuits. The

counties comprising circuits are included in Table 20. A map is available at
http://www.eog.state.fl.us/eog/govdocs/legal/statesaty/other/circuits.html.
Table 11: Forms Received by Judicial Circuit

County of initiation was not indicated on .56% of the 80,869 forms, which
means that the judicial circuit could not be identified for these 456 forms
Judicial Counties in District Total BA
Circuit Forms
Statewide 80,869
County 456
Missing
1 Escambia, Okaloosa, Santa Rosa, Walton 3,493
2 Franklin, Gadsden, Jefferson, Leon, Liberty Wakulla 1,836
3 Columbia, Dixie, Hamilton, Lafayette, Madison, Suwanee, 515
Taylor
4 Clay, Duval, Nassau 5,831
5 Citrus, Hernando, Lake, Marion, Sumter 4,027
6 Pasco, Pinellas 9,516
7 Flagler, Putnam, St. Johns, Volusia 3,441
8 Alachua, Baker, Bradford, Gilchrist, Levy, Union 910
9 Orange, Osceola 5,360
10 Hardee, Highlands, Polk 3,345
11 Dade 7,913
12 DeSoto, Manatee, Sarasota 3,538
13 Hillsborough 4,484
14 Bay, Calhoun, Gulf, Holmes, Jackson, Washington 1,167
15 Palm Beach 6,053
16 Monroe 506
17 Broward 8,371
18 Brevard, Seminole 5,357
19 Indian River, Martin, Okeechobee, St. Lucie 1,682
20 Charlotte, Collier, Glades, Hardee, Lee 3,068
*Forms received from facilities that were not approved Baker Act Receiving Facilities or
that were missing any indication of facility were NOT included in the analyses presented in
the next three tables. The 21 forms received from a Department of Corrections facility
were also not included
The types of certificates received (judge, professional and law enforcement) are
presented by Judicial Circuit in Table 12.
Table 12: Certificate Type by Circuit and County

Circuit Judge Professional Law Enforcement Total
Freq % Freq % Freq %
Statewide 3,504 4.33 41,503 51.32 35,862 44.35 80,869
No County 44 9.65 21 4.61 391 85.75 456

Indicated
1 174 4.98 2,260 64.70 1,059 30.32 3,493
2 85 4.63 768 41.83 983 53.54 1,836
3 50 9.71 165 32.04 300 58.25 515
4 418 7.17 1,940 33.27 3,473 59.56 5,831
5 174 4.32 1,923 47.75 1,930 47.93 4,027
6 577 6.06 4,634 48.70 4,305 45.24 9,516
7 189 5.49 1,237 35.95 2,015 58.56 3,441
8 38 4.18 522 57.36 350 38.46 910
9 76 1.42 3,252 60.67 2,032 37.91 5,360
10 179 5.35 1,949 58.27 1,217 22.92 3,345
11 430 9.66 4,451 56.25 3,032 38,32 7,913
12 188 5.31 1,870 52.85 1,480 41.83 3,538
13 172 3.84 2,162 48.22 2,150 47.95 4,484
14 75 6.43 572 49.01 520 44.56 1,167
15 157 2.59 3,110 51.38 2,786 13.00 6,053
16 3 .59 404 79.84 99 19.56 506
17 66 .79 4,690 56.03 3,615 43.18 8,371
18 177 3.30 2,902 54.17 2,278 42.52 5,357
19 143 8,50 877 52.14 662 39.36 1,682
20 89 2.91 1,794 58.47 1,185 38.62 3,068
Table 13 presents the distribution of evidence types (for certificates completed
by mental health professionals, law enforcement officials, and judges) by
Judicial Circuit. The “Neither” evidence type means that the check boxes on the
forms intended to indicate the evidence type were not checked. Given the high
volume of forms that are received, it is not possible for data entry staff to
interpret written information to make a determination as to evidence type in
the absence of a checked box indicating evidence type.
Table 13: Evidence Type by Judicial Circuit

Circuit Neglect Harm Both Neither Total
Freq % Freq % Freq % Freq % Freq
Statewide
Statewide 15,131 18.71 55,948 69.18 4,754 5.88 5,036 6.23 80,869
No County 82 17.98 313 68.64 23 5.04 38 8.33 456
Indicated
1 543 15.55 2,669 76.41 143 4.09 138 3.95 3,493
2 336 18.30 1,316 71.68 111 6.05 73 3.98 1,836
3 105 20.39 318 61.75 53 10.29 39 7.57 515

4 1,011 17.33 4,187 71.81 284 4.87 349 5.99 5,831
5 648 16.09 2,889 71.74 240 5.96 250 6.21 4,027
6 1,467 15.42 7,061 74.20 576 6.05 412 4.33 9,516
7 649 18.86 2,394 69.57 234 6.80 164 4.77 3,441
8 173 19.01 657 71.20 45 4.95 35 3.85 910

9 999 18.64 3,853 71.88 277 5.17 231 4.31 5,360
10 706 21.11 2,355 70.40 172 5.14 112 3.35 3,345
11 1,974 24.95 4,158 52.55 604 7.63 1,177 14.87 7,913
12 648 18.32 2,531 71.54 197 5.57 162 4.58 3,538
13 752 16.77 3,225 71.92 309 6.89 198 4.42 4,484
14 180 15.42 852 73.01 62 5.31 73 6.26 1,167

15 1,249 20.63 4,023 66.46 272 4.49 509 8.41 6,053
16 125 24.70 320 63.24 42 8.30 19 3.75 506
17 1,713 20.46 5,537 66.15 565 6.75 556 6.43 8,371
18 893 16.67 3,925 73.27 295 5.51 244 4.55 5,357
19 303 18.01 1,206 71.70 87 5.17 86 5.11 1,682
20 575 18.74 2,159 70.37 163 5.31 171 5.57 3,068
ANALYSES BY COUNTIES AND
DEPARTMENT OF CHILDREN AND FAMILIES DISTRICTS
The types of certificates received (judge, professional and law enforcement) are
presented by District and County of Initiation in Table 14.
Table 14: Certificate Type by District and County of Initiation

County Judge Professional Law Enforcement Total
Statewide
Statewide 3,504 4.33 41,503 51.32 35,862 44.35 80,869
County Not 44 9.65 21* 4.61 391 85.75 456
Indicated
District 1
Total D1 174 4.98 2,260 64.70 1,059 30.32 3,493
Escambia 114 5.57 1,311 64.04 622 30.39 2,047
Okaloosa 13 1.22 799 74.81 256 23.97 1,068
Santa Rosa 33 11.30 150 51.37 109 37.33 292
Walton 14 16.28 72 83.72 39 45.35 86
District 2
Total D2 182 5.85 1,340 43.09 1,588 51.06 3,110
Bay 39 4.15 572 60.92 328 34.93 939
Calhoun 7 21.20 0 0 26 78.79 33
Franklin 8 18.60 0 0 35 81.40 43
Gadsden 78 75.00 0 0 4 3.85 104
Gulf 20 83.33 0 0 20 83.33 24
Holmes 2 5.00 0 0 38 95.00 40
Jackson 19 20.21 0 0 75 79.79 94
Jefferson 8 27.59 0 0 21 72.41 29
Leon 36 2.33 768 49.71 741 47.96 1,545
Liberty 1 3.45 0 0 28 96.55 29
Madison 12 22.22 0 0 42 77.78 54
Taylor 10 18.87 0 0 43 81.13 53
Wakulla 6 6.98 0 0 80 93.02 86
Washington 4 10.81 0 0 33 89.19 37
*The county of initiation for Baker Act examinations initiated by mental health professionals is
the same as the county of the facility, so is not missing in the data for professional initiations.
The 21 professional forms coded as missing the county of initiation represent those from
Department of Corrections Facilities. Although the county of these facilities is known, the
county of these DOC facilities was not included as the county of initiation because of the very
unique population this represents, which is not typically drawn from the local community. In
contrast, the county of initiation is entered from law enforcement and judge completed forms (so
may be incomplete and, therefore, missing in the data).
Table 14: Certificate Type by District and County of Initiation (Continued)
District 3 Continued
District 3
Total D3 62 4.64 687 51.46 586 43.90 1,335
Alachua 20 2.81 522 73.31 170 23.88 712
Bradford 9 21.95 0 0 32 78.05 41
Columbia 16 6.27 165 64.71 74 29.02 255
Dixie 1 2.78 0 0 35 97.22 36
Gilchrist 1 7.69 0 0 12 92.31 13
Hamilton 0 0 0 0 13 100 13
Lafayette 2 22.22 0 0 7 77.78 9
Levy 2 2.74 0 0 71 94.60 73
Putnam 0 0 0 0 74 100 74
Suwanee 9 9.47 0 0 86 90.53 95
Union 2 14.29 0 0 12 85.71 14
District 4
Total D4 457 7.13 2,066 32.24 3,885 60.63 6,408
Baker 4 7.02 0 0 53 92.98 57
Clay 3 11.36 97 36.74 164 62.12 264
Duval 393 7.37 1,843 34.56 3,097 58.07 5,333
Nassau 22 9.40 0 0 212 90.60 234
St. John 35 6.73 126 24.23 359 69.04 520
District 5
Total D5 577 6.06 4,634 48.70 4,305 45.24 9,516
Pasco 280 9.96 1,032 36.70 1,500 53.34 2,812
Pinellas 297 4.43 3,602 53.73 2,805 41.84 6,704
District 6
Total D6 257 4.28 2,855 47.53 2,895 48.19 6,007
Hillsborough 172 3.84 2,162 48.22 2,150 47.95 4,484
Manatee 85 693 45.50 745 48.92 1,523
District 7
Total D7 253 2.36 6,154 57.42 4,310 40.22 10,717
Brevard 119 3.78 1,402 44.51 1,629 51.71 3,150
Orange 56 1.18 2,950 62.11 1,753 36.91 4,749
Osceola 30 4.91 279 45.66 58 9.49 611
Seminole 58 2.63 1,500 67.97 649 29.41 2,207
Table 14: Certificate Type by District and County of Initiation (Continued)
District 8
Total D8 192 3.78 2,971 58.45 1,920 37.78 5,083
Charlotte 34 5.04 457 67.70 184 27.26 675
Collier 25 3.85 354 54.55 270 41.60 649
DeSoto 12 12.77 0 0 82 87.23 94
Glades 1 9.09 0 0 10 90.91 11
Hendry 1 2.27 0 0 43 97.73 44
Lee 28 1.66 983 58.20 678 14.46 1,689
Sarasota 91 4.74 1,177 61.27 653 33.99 1,921
District 9
Total D9 157 2.59 3,110 51.38 2,786 46.03 6,053
Palm Beach 157 2.59 3,110 51.38 2,786 46.03 6,053
District 10
Total D10 66 .79 4,690 56.03 3,615 43.18 8,371
Broward 66 .79 4,690 56.03 3,615 43.18 8,371
District 11
Total D11 433 5.14 4,855 57.67 3,131 37.19 8,419
Dade 430 5.43 4,451 56.25 3,032 38.32 7,913
Monroe 3 .59 404 79.84 99 19.56 506
District 12
Total D12 154 5.41 1,111 39.02 1,582 55.57 2,847
Flagler 17 10.43 0 0 146 89.57 163
Volusia 137 5.10 1,111 41.39 1,436 53.50 2,684
District 13
Total D13 174 4.32 1,923 47.75 1,930 47.93 4,027
Citrus 16 1.74 531 57.65 374 40.61 921
Hernando 37 4.38 440 52.13 367 43.48 844
Lake 36 4.31 420 50.30 379 45.39 835
Marion 69 5.26 532 40.58 710 54.16 1,311
Sumter 16 13.79 0 100 86.21 116
District 14
Total D14 179 5.35 1,949 58.27 1,217 36.38 3,345
Hardee 6 11.54 0 0 46 88.46 52
Highlands 11 2.53 186 42.86 237 54.61 434
Polk 162 5.67 1,763 61.66 934 32.67 2,859
District 15
Total D15 143 8.50 877 52.14 662 39.36 1,682
Indian River 39 7.66 296 58.15 174 34.18 509
Martin 28 66.67 0 0 14 33.33 42
Okeechobee 13 28.26 0 0 33 71.74 46
St. Lucie 63 5.81 581 53.33 441 40.65 1,085
Table 15 presents the distribution of evidence types by county and Department
of Children and Families district.
Table 15: Evidence Type by District and County of Initiation
County Neglect Harm Both Neither Total
Freq % Freq % Freq % Freq %
Statewide
Statewide 15,131 18.71 55,948 69.18 4,754 5.88 5,036 6.23 80,869
County Not
82 17.98 313 68.64 23 5.04 38 8.33 456
Indicated
District 1
Total D1 543 15.54 2,669 76.41 143 4.09 138 3.95 3,493
Escambia 324 15.83 1,576 76.99 86 4.20 61 2.98 2,047
Okaloosa 170 15.92 818 76.59 37 3.46 43 4.03 1,068
Santa Rosa 36 12.33 210 71.92 16 17.39 30 10.27 292
Walton 13 15.12 65 75.58 4 4.65 4 4.65 86
District 2
Total D2 536 17.23 2,235 71.86 189 6.08 150 4.82 3,110
Bay 147 15.65 691 73.59 46 4.90 55 5.86 939
Calhoun 4 12.12 11 33.33 3 9.09 4 12.12 33
Franklin 6 13.95 32 74.42 3 2.33 2 4.65 43
Gadsden 26 25.00 67 64.42 9 8.65 2 1.92 104
Gulf 4 16.67 19 79.17 0 0 1 4.17 24
Holmes 6 15.00 31 77.50 2 5.00 1 2.50 40
Jackson 17 18.09 60 63.83 10 10.64 7 7.45 94
Jefferson 2 6.90 25 86.21 1 3.45 1 3.45 29
Leon 276 17.86 1,112 71.97 92 5.95 65 4.21 1,545
Liberty 11 37.93 14 3.45 3 10.34 1 3.45 29
Madison 17 31.48 28 51.85 7 12.96 2 3.70 54
Taylor 3 5.66 39 73.58 9 16.98 2 1.89 53
Wakulla 15 17.55 66 76.74 3 3.49 2 2.33 86
Washingt. 2 5.41 29 78.38 1 2.70 5 13.51 37
District 3
Total D3 257 19.25 928 69.51 81 6.07 69 5.17 1,335
Alachua 155 21.77 498 69.94 30 4.21 29 4.07 712
Bradford 3 7.32 30 73.17 6 14.63 2 4.88 41
Columbia 60 23.53 146 57.25 22 8.63 27 10.59 255
Dixie 6 16.67 22 61.11 4 11.11 4 11.11 36
Gilchrist 1 7.69 11 7.69 1 7.69 0 0 13
Hamilton 4 30.77 6 46.15 2 15.38 1 7.69 13
Lafayette 0 0 7 77.78 0 0 2 22.22 9
Levy 5 6.85 66 90.41 2 1.37 0 0 73
Putnam 5 6.76 63 85.14 3 4.05 3 4.05 74
Suwanee 15 15.79 70 82.35 9 9.47 1 1.05 95
Union 3 21.43 9 64.29 2 14.29 0 0 14
Table 15: Evidence Type by District and County of Initiation (Continued)
District 4
Total D4 1,128 17.60 4,586 71.57 328 5.12 366 5.72 6,408
Baker 6 10.53 43 75.44 4 7.02 4 7.02 57
Clay 38 14.39 211 79.92 6 2.27 9 3.41 264
Duval 927 17.38 3,810 71.44 261 4.89 335 6.28 5,333
Nassau 46 19.66 166 70.94 17 7.26 5 2.14 234
St. John's 111 21.35 356 68.46 40 7.69 13 2.50 520
District 5
Total D5 1,467 15.42 7,061 74.20 576 6.05 412 4.33 9,516
Pasco 368 13.09 2,201 78.27 109 3.88 134 4.77 2,812
Pinellas 1,099 16.39 4,860 72.49 467 6.97 278 4.15 6,704
District 6
Total D6 1,010 16.81 4,322 71.95 369 6.14 306 5.09 6,007
Hillsboroug 752 16.77 3,225 71.92 309 6.89 198 4.42 4,484
h
Manatee 258 16.94 1,097 72.03 60 3.94 108 7.09 1,523
District 7
Total D7 1,892 17.65 7,778 72.58 572 5.33 475 4.43 10,71
Brevard 552 17.53 2,232 70.86 200 6.35 166 5.27 7
3,150
Orange 909 19.14 3,399 71.57 240 5.05 201 4.23 4,749
Osceola 90 14.73 454 74.30 37 6.06 30 4.91 611
Seminole 341 15.45 1,693 76.71 95 4.30 78 3.53 2,207
District 8
Total D8 965 18.98 3,593 70.69 300 5.90 225 4.43 5,083
Charlotte 147 21.78 470 69.63 40 5.93 18 2.67 675
Collier 106 16.33 477 73.50 31 4.78 35 5.39 649
DeSoto 22 23.40 67 71.28 4 4.26 1 1.06 94
Glades 2 18.18 9 81.82 0 0 0 0 11
Hendry 7 15.91 35 79.55 1 2.27 1 2.27 44
Lee 313 18.53 1,168 69.15 9 .53 117 6.93 1,689
Sarasota 368 19.16 1,367 71.16 133 6.92 53 2.76 1,921
District 9
Total D9 1,249 20.63 4,023 66.46 272 4.49 509 8.41 6,053
Palm Beach 1,249 20.63 4,023 66.46 272 4.49 509 8.41 6,053
District 10
Total D10 1,713 20.46 5,537 66.15 565 6.75 556 6.64 8,371
Broward 1,713 20.46 5,537 66.15 565 6.75 556 6.64 8,371
District 11
Total D11 2,099 24.94 4,478 53.19 646 7.67 1,196 14.21 8,419
Dade 1,974 24.94 4,158 52.55 604 7.63 1,177 14.87 7,913
Monroe 125 24.70 320 63.24 42 8.30 19 3.75 506
Table 15: Evidence Type by District and County of Initiation (Continued)
District 12
Total D12 533 18.72 1,975 69.37 191 6. 148 5.20 2,847
Flagler 25 15.34 97 59.51 19 71
11.66 22 13.50 163
Volusia 508 18.93 1,878 69.97 172 6.41 126 4.69 2,684
District 13
Total D13 648 16.09 2,889 71.74 240 5.96 250 6.21 4,027
Citrus 171 18.57 653 70.90 44 4.78 53 5.75 921
Hernando 168 19.91 570 67.54 60 7.11 46 5.45 844
Lake 120 14.37 604 72.54 46 5.51 65 7.78 835
Marion 173 13.20 973 74.22 85 6.48 80 6.10 1,311
Sumter 16 13.79 89 76.73 5 4.31 6 5.17 116
District 14
Total D14 706 21.11 2,355 70.40 172 5.14 112 3.35 3,345
Hardee 8 15.38 41 78.85 2 3.85 1 1.92 52
Highlands 131 30.18 242 55.76 26 5.99 35 8.06 434
Polk 567 19.83 2,072 72.47 144 5.04 76 2.66 2,859
District 15
Total D15 303 18.01 1,206 71.70 87 5.17 86 5.11 1,682
Indian River 108 21.22 344 67.58 28 5.50 29 5.70 509
Martin 10 23.81 27 64.29 4 9.52 1 2.38 42
Okeechobee 12 26.09 33 71.74 0 0 1 2.17 46
St. Lucie 173 15.94 802 73.92 55 5.97 55 5.07 1,085
Table 16: Baker Act Initiations by Agency for Health Care Administration Field Offices
AHCA Field Offices Counties Comprising Number of Baker Act

Field Offices Initiations
Statewide 80,869
County Missing 456
1 Escambia, Okaloosa, Santa 6,603

Rosa, Walton, Bay, Calhoun,
Franklin, Gadsden, Gulf,
Holmes, Jackson, Jefferson,
Liberty, Leon, Madison,
Taylor, Wakulla, Washington
2 Alachua, Bradford, Citrus, 5,362

Columbia, Dixie, Gilchrist,
Hamilton, Hernando,
Lafayette, Lake, Levy, Marion,
Putnam, Sumter, Suwanee,
Union
3 Baker, Clay, Duval, Flagler, 9,255

Nassau, St. Johns, Volusia
4 Pasco, Pinellas, Hardee, 18,868

Highlands, Hillsborough,
Manatee, Polk
5 Brevard, Orange, Osceola, 10,717

Seminole
6 Charlotte, Collier, Desoto, 5,083

Glades, Hendry, Lee, Sarasota
7 Indian River, Martin, 16,106

Okeechobee, Palm Beach, St.
Lucie, Broward
8 Dade, Monroe 8,419
FACILITY LEVEL ANALYSES
Time of Completion to Time of Receipt of Baker Act Forms

Under Section 394.463 Florida Statutes, each Baker Act Receiving Facility
must send a copy of the examination initiation form to the BA Reporting center
on the next working day after the person’s arrival at the facility. Upon arrival
in the BA Reporting Center, the forms are immediately stamped with the
receipt date.
The mean length of time between Baker Act initiation and the receipt of the
forms at the BA Reporting Center was 7.37 days (Median 6 days, SD = 9.74,
11
minimum 1 day, maximum 292 days). These descriptive statistics are based
on the 79,450 or the 98.25% of forms that contained dates of initiation
necessary to compute the gap in time between Baker Act initiation and receipt
of the form. Median days from initiation to receipt of form per district ranged
from 3 to 39 days. It is reasonable to suppose that forms may take several
days to reach FMHI via the U.S. mail. In some cases, time may elapse because
the individual is not brought to the receiving facility on the day the initiation
form is completed. For example, a judge may issue an order but law
enforcement officials may need multiple days to locate the individual and bring
him or her to the receiving facility. This could result in a gap of several days
between form completion and receipt, beyond the time needed for postal
delivery. As a general rule, median times beyond a week are likely due to more
than just mail time or the occasional longer gap in time due to issues of
location and transportation of the individual to the receiving facility.
Table 17 presents data on the length of time between certificate initiation and
receipt of the form by the BA Reporting Center by District. Table 18 presents
this information by facility. This is done for each Baker Act facility in the state.
The median (the middle score in the distribution), as opposed to the mean
(the average), is the most appropriate statistic to use to describe these
data because many of the distributions are skewed.
11
Differences between the date received and the date of form completion that were 365 days or more were treated as missing data.
Many forms received appeared to take a year and a few days to receive due to the incorrect recording of the year towards the first of
the year. This means that this time data can be characterized as being approached conservatively, with large outliers taken out of the
data analysis.
Table 17: Gap Between Time of Form Completion and Receipt – District level
Given the skewed distributions for many of the providers, the median is the more accurate
statistic to use to characterize the data.
District # of Initiations Median Mean

Statewide 79,501 6 7.37
1 3,401 5 5.78
2 3,109 5 5.54
3 1,164 5 6.07
4 6,258 5 5.84
5 9,583 4 4.76
6 5,970 7 9.92
7 10.165 5 5.48
8 5,017 5 5.84
9 5,944 6 6.69
10 8,339 8 9.54
11 8,376 7 12.90
12 2,820 5 6.12
13 4,058 5 5.61
14 3,321 4 4.74
15 1,976 5 6.05
*The total number of initiations represented by the data in this table (79,501) is smaller than the total
number of identified unduplicated initiations analyzed (80,869). This is because some forms were
missing or did not have a logical date of completion (such as a date after the data the form was received),
which did not allow for the computation between the date the form was received and the date it was
completed.
Table 18: Gap Between Time of Form Completion and Receipt - Facility level
Given the skewed distributions for many of the providers, the median is the more accurate statistic to use to
characterize the data. (Dis = Department of Children and Families District) (Mean and Median represent days).
The “Overall N” represents the total number of forms received from each facility, while the “#” represents the
number of forms received with complete date of initiation information necessary for the computation of the gap
between receipt and completion.
Dis Code County Facility Overall # Median Mean

#
09 1 Palm Beach 45th Street Community Mental Health Center 1,108 1,085 7 8.19
12 2 Volusia ACT Corporation CSU & SRT 1,306 1,282 5 6.61
02 4 Leon Apalachee Center for Human Services, Inc.* 1,135 1,127 5 5.07
10 36 Broward Atlantic Shores Hospital 103 100 9 10.67
11 3 Dade Aventura Hospital and Medical Center 95 92 5 6.38
01 5 Escambia Baptist Hospital 1,214 1,182 5 5.06
04 6 Duval Baptist Medical Center 629 614 6 6.50
02 110 Bay Bay County Behavioral Health Center 637 627 6 6.70
02 7 Bay Bay Medical Center 132 130 6 7.38
08 9 Sarasota Bayside Center for Behavioral Health at Sarasota 633 630 6 6.16
11 10 Dade Bayview Center for Mental Health, Inc. 290 282 6 6.93
04 157 Duval Behavioral Services Management* 64 62 6 6.10
08 12 Sarasota Bon Secours - Venice Hospital Behavioral Health 345 345 5 4.78
Services
01 13 Okaloosa Bridgeway Center, Inc. 340 329 7 8.17
10 14 Broward Broward Correctional Institution 26 25 10 10.00
th
10 15 Broward 19 Street CSU/Broward County MH Division 893 885 8 10.34
10 16 Broward Broward General Medical Center 1,239 1,228 9 9.77
11 17 Dade Cedars Medical Center 371 364 7 7.55
08 20 Charlotte Charlotte Community Mental Health Center, Inc. 359 356 5 5.30
08 24 Lee Charter Glade Behavioral Health System 569 546 4 4.53
06 27 Hillsborough Charter Hospital Tampa Bay 178 174 5 4.83
13 29 Marion Charter Springs Hospital 151 144 6 5.92
07 30 Brevard Circles of Care, Inc. 2,837 2,751 4 4.75
11 103 Dade Citrus Health Network 1,587 1,559 5 5.24
08 32 Sarasota Coastal Recovery Center, Inc. 1,157 1,153 5 5.40
11 41 Dade Columbia Deering Hospital 663 652 5 5.62
09 65 Palm Beach Columbia Pavilion 1,888 1,855 5 5.12
05 58 Pasco Community Hospital of New Port Richey 603 598 6 6.21
11 33 Dade Community Mental Health Center of South 375 361 9 10.85
Dade, Inc. (CHI)
08 40 Collier David Lawrence Mental Health Center, Inc. 648 637 6 6.94
02 42 Leon Eastside Psychiatric Hospital (See Appalachee) --- --- --- ---
04 43 Palm Beach Fair Oaks Pavilion of Delray Medical Center 486 472 5 5.57
04 44 St. John's Flagler Hospital 421 408 6 6.51
07 46 Orange Florida Hospital 1,014 1,003 6 6.50
14 69 Highlands Florida Hospital Heartland Medical Center 215 205 5 6.82
Table 18: Gap Between Time of Form Completion and Receipt (Continued)

#
10 49 Broward Florida Medical Center 676 667 12 16.54
10 38 Broward Fort Lauderdale Hospital 125 125 5 13.01
01 50 Okaloosa Fort Walton Beach Medical Center 764 746 5 6.12
11 52 Monroe Guidance Clinic of the Middle Keys 191 187 4 5.11
12 54 Volusia Halifax Psychiatric Center North 52 52 5 4.85
12 55 Volusia Halifax Medical Center 1,511 1,486 5 5.74
14 104 Polk Heart of Florida Behavioral Center 4 4 4 3.75
10 62 Broward Hollywood Pavilion Hospital 38 37 5 5.92
10 66 Broward Imperial Point Medical Center 590 583 6 6.57
15 18 Indian River Indian River Memorial Hospital 459 450 5 5.48
09 128 Center forfor
Palm Beach Institute Emotional and Behavioral
Mental Health Health
at St. Mary’s Hospital 485 474 8 9.32
11 67 Dade Jackson Memorial Hospital, Psychiatric Institute 1,599 1,580 39 46.54
03 68 Columbia Lake City Medical Center 100 97 7 8.04
14 70 Polk Lakeland Regional Medical Center 996 988 4 3.93
07 71 Orange Lakeside Alternatives, Inc. 3,085 3,055 5 5.84
01 72 Escambia Lakeview Center, Inc. 659 645 6 5.72
11 73 Dade Larkin Community Hospital 128 122 6 6.16
15 75 St. Lucie Lawnwood Regional Medical Center 480 452 6 6.37
02 77 Bay Life Management Center of Northwest Florida 395 389 6 6.16
13 78 Lake Life Stream Behavioral Center 979 962 6 6.17
11 79 Dade Lock Towns Community Mental Health Center 73 71 14 16.35
11 45 Monroe Lower Keys Medical Center 312 304 6 5.91
06 80 Manatee Manatee Glens Hospital and Manattee Glens 999 989 3 3.14
Hospital CSU
06 81 Manatee Manatee Memorial Hospital 542 535 6 6.87
13 82 Marion Marion-Citrus Mental Health Centers, Inc. 1,218 1,188 5 5,48
06 84 Hillsborough Memorial Hospital of Tampa, Ltd. 100 97 7 10.93
10 85 Broward Memorial Regional Hospital 3,154 3,123 9 9.66
06 87 Hillsborough Mental Health Care, Inc. 2,487 2,458 13 15.69
04 88 Duval Mental Health Center of Jacksonville 1,862 1,849 6 6.94
04 89 Duval Mental Health Resource Center 1,993 1,961 5 5.13
11 92 Dade Mercy Hospital, Inc. 2 2 N/A 7.5
03 158 Columbia Meridian Behavioral Health Care, Inc. – Lake City 220 216 5 5.48
03 91 Alachua Meridian Behavioral Health Care Center 756 738 5 5.54
11 161 Dade Miami Behavioral Health Center 329 317 24 24.89
11 93 Dade Miami Children's Hospital 74 74 7 7.49
05 95 Pinellas Morton F. Plant Hospital 1,671 1,620 4 4.40
11 96 Dade Mount Sinai Medical Center 87 87 7 7.87

#
11 98 Dade New Horizons Community Mental Health Center 134 128 6 8.48
15 99 St. Lucie New Horizons of the Treasure Coast, Inc. 1,011 990 5 5.25
11 102 Dade North Shore Medical Center 234 232 5 5.39
04 64 Clay Orange Park Medical Center 167 154 4 4.86
11 105 Dade Palmetto General Hospital 345 331 8 8.28
07 90 Osceola Park Place Behavioral Healthcare 557 551 6 6.21
(formerly Osceola Evaluation & Treatment Center)
11 106 Dade Parkway Regional Medical Center 389 384 7 7.91

14 107 Polk Peace River Center for Personal Development 1,669 1,655 5 5.31
05 108 Pinellas Personal Enrichment Through Mental Health 2,733 2,692 4 4.34
Services, Inc.
08 159 Charlotte Riverside Behavioral Center 331 330 6 6.66
08 76 Lee Ruth Cooper Center, Inc. 1,048 1,020 6 6.46
15 113 St. Lucie Savannas Hospital 92 84 14 16.81
07 114 Seminole Seminole Community Mental Health Center 629 618 4 4.44
13 115 Citrus Seven Rivers Community Hospital 398 391 6 6.50
03 116 Alachua Shands at Vista 620 610 6 6.03
03 117 Alachua Shands Hospital 115 111 7 9.00
04 140 Duval Shands Jacksonville 83 80 6 6.73
09 118 Palm Beach South County Mental Health Center 1,960 1,904 7 7.13
07 120 Seminole South Seminole Hospital 1,607 1,577 5 5.03
11 121 Dade South Shore Hospital and Medical Center 142 111 8 8.88
11 122 Dade Southern Winds Hospital 389 380 5 5.43
13 51 Hernando Springbrook Hospital 776 763 4 4.26
05 123 Pinellas St. Anthony's Hospital, Inc. 837 820 4 4.13
06 127 Hillsborough St. Joseph’s Hospital 1,073 1,060 6 6.06
04 129 Duval St. Vincent's Medical Center 154 149 6 6.51
05 130 Pinellas Sun Coast Hospital 623 615 4 3.97
10 137 Broward Sunrise Regional Medical Center 414 411 11 13.61
02 131 Leon Tallahassee Memorial Regional Medical Center 843 836 4 4.73
06 132 Hillsborough Tampa General Hospital 379 373 6 8.66
04 125 Duval Ten Broeck Hospital 998 981 4 4.64
05 135 Pasco The Harbor Behavioral Health Care Institute 2,361 2,349 6 5.68
10 141 Palm Beach University Pavilion Hospital 1,073 1,063 7 7.32
05 8 Pinellas Veteran’s Administration Hospital – Bay Pines 314 313 3 3.38
03 144 Alachua Veteran's Administration Hospital – Gainesville 2 2 N/A 6.5
11 142 Dade Veteran's Administration Hospital - Miami 0 0 N/A N/A
06 143 Hillsborough Veteran's Administration Hospital - Tampa 286 284 7 8.09
06 162 Palm Beach Veteran's Administration Hospital – W Palm Beach 39 37 4 4.51
01 145 Santa Rosa West Florida Community Care Center 226 214 5 6.43
01 146 Escambia West Florida Regional Medical Center 289 285 5 5.19
11 160 Dade Westchester General Hospital 74 72 7 7.72
09 147 Palm Beach Western Palm Beach Mental Health Clinic, Inc. 118 117 5 5.26

#
05 63 Pinellas Windmoor Healthcare, Inc. (Clearwater) 578 575 5 5.00
11 56 Dade Windmoor Healthcare, Inc. (Miami) 668 647 6 6.60
14 148 Polk Winter Haven Hospital Center for Psychiatry 477 469 3 3.51
07 149 Orange Winter Park Memorial Hospital 198 193 6 6.03
07 150 Seminole Winter Park Pavilion 125 125 6 7.06
07 151 Brevard Wuesthoff Memorial Hospital 313 292 6 7.04
APPENDIX A: OVERVIEW OF BAKER ACT PROVISIONS
Taken from
Baker Act Training Materials
Spring 1998
Overview of
The Florida Mental Health Act (The Baker Act)
394 Part I, Florida Statutes
(Refer to Law for Specifics)
Overview & History requires prompt physical examination after

arrival; requires treatment planning to
Statutes governing the treatment of mental involve the patient; and requires the least
illness in Florida date back to 1874. restrictive appropriate available treatment
Amendments to the law were passed many be based on the individual needs of each
times over the years but in 1971, the patient.
Legislature enacted the Florida Mental
Health Act. This Act brought about a Express and Informed Consent: Encourages
dramatic and comprehensive revision of people to voluntarily apply for mental
Florida’s 97 year old laws. It substantially health services when competent to do so, to
strengthened the due process and civil choose their own treatment, and to decide
rights of persons in mental heath facilities. when they want to stop treatment. The law
requires that consent be voluntarily given
The Act, usually referred to as the “Baker in writing after sufficient explanation to
Act,” was named after Maxine Baker, enable the person to make a knowing and
former State representative from Miami who willful decision without any coercion.
sponsored the Act, after serving as
chairperson of the House Committee on Quality of Treatment Requires medical,
Mental Health. Referring to the treatment vocational, social, educational, and
of persons with mental illness before the rehabilitative services suited to each
passage of her bill, Representative Baker patient’s needs to be administered skillfully,
stated“ In the name of mental health, we safely, and humanely. Use of restraint,
deprive them of their most precious seclusion, isolation, emergency treatment
possession – liberty.” orders, physical management techniques,
and elevated levels of supervision are
Since the Baker Act became effective in regulated. Complaint resolution is
1972, a number of legislative amendments required.
have been enacted to protect patients’ civil
and due process rights. The most Communication, Abuse Reporting, and
substantial reform occurred in 1996 in Visits: Guarantees persons in mental
which greater protections were extended to health facilities the right to communicate
persons seeking voluntary admission and freely and privately with persons outside
those being discharged from state the facilities by phone, mail, or visitation. If
treatment facilities, strengthened informed communication is restricted, written notice
consent and guardian advocacy provisions, must be provided. No restriction of calls to
expanded notice requirements, and the Abuse Registry or to the patient’s
provided for suspension and withdrawal of attorney is permitted under any
receiving and treatment facility circumstances.
designations, among many other revisions.
Care and Custody of Personal Effects:
Ensures that patients may keep their own
Patient Rights clothing and personal effects, unless they
are removed for safety or medical reasons.
Individual Dignity: Ensures all
If removed, a witnessed inventory is
constitutional rights and requires that
provided.
persons be treated in a humane way while
transported or treated for mental illness. Voting in Public Elections: Patients are
guaranteed the right to register and to vote
Treatment: Prohibits the delay or denial of
in any elections for which they qualify.
treatment due to inability to pay and
Habeas Corpus: Guarantees patient the Prior to giving consent to admission or
right to ask the court to review the cause treatment, the following information must
and legality of the patient’s detention or be given to the patient or their substitute
unjust denial of a legal right or privilege or decision-maker:
an authorized procedure.
• the reason for admission;
Treatment and Discharge Planning: • the proposed treatment;
Guarantees the opportunity to participate • the purpose of the treatment to
in treatment and discharge planning and to be provided;
seek treatment from the professional or • the common side effects thereof;
agency of patient’s choice upon discharge.
• alternative treatment modalities
• the approximate length of care,
Voluntary Admission and
• that any consent may be revoked
An adult may apply for voluntary admission prior to or during the treatment
if found to show evidence of mental illness, period.
to be competent to provide express and
informed consent, and to be suitable for Baker Act receiving facilities may not admit
treatment. under voluntary status incapacitated
persons who have court appointed
A person is incompetent to consent to guardians and may not allow a health care
admission or treatment if his or her surrogate or proxy of a voluntary patient to
judgment is so affected by his or her mental provide consent to treatment.
illness that the person lacks the capacity to
make a well reasoned, willful, and knowing Any person admitted on a voluntary basis
decision concerning his or her medical or must be evaluated within 24 hours after
mental health treatment. If the person arrival at a receiving facility by a physician
meets this definition, he or she must be to document the person’s competence to
examined under the involuntary provisions provide express and informed consent for
of the law. admission.
In general, a person cannot be admitted as Persons on voluntary status who request

“voluntary” unless competent to provide discharge or who refuse or revoke consent
express and informed consent. Hence, to treatment must be discharged from a
such persons are admitted only under the community-based Baker Act receiving
heightened protections established for facility within 24 hours, and from a state
involuntary persons. treatment facility within 3 working days,
unless the facility administrator files a
• A minor may only be admitted upon petition for the patient’s involuntary
application by his or her guardian. placement with the circuit court.
• Certain persons must be assessed for

their ability to provide express and Involuntary Examination
informed consent to voluntary
A person may be taken to a receiving facility
admission prior to being transported to
for involuntary examination if there is
a receiving facility. They include
reason to believe that he or she is mentally
persons over 60 years of age with
ill as defined in the law, and because of his
dementia from specified facilities,
or her mental illness:
persons over 60 years of age who are
transferred on an emergency basis from • The person has refused voluntary
a nursing home, and persons for whom examination or is unable to determine
health care decisions are currently whether examination is necessary; and
being made by a health care surrogate
or proxy. • Without care or treatment, the person is
likely to suffer from neglect resulting in
real and present threat of substantial examination, the officer shall transport the
harm that can’t be avoided through the person to the nearest receiving facility for
help of others; or examination. When an officer has arrested
a person for a felony and it appears that the
• There is substantial likelihood that person meets the statutory criteria for
without care or treatment the person involuntary examination, the person shall
will cause serious bodily harm to self or first be processed in the same manner as
others in the near future, as evidence any other criminal suspect.
by recent behavior.
An officer may request assistance from
An involuntary examination may be emergency medical personnel if such
initiated by any one of the three following assistance is needed for the safety of the
means: officer or the person in custody. If the
officer believes that a person has an
• A court may enter an ex parte order, emergency medical condition as defined in
based upon sworn testimony, directing law, the person may be first transported to
a law enforcement officer to take the a hospital for emergency medical treatment,
person to the nearest receiving facility. regardless of whether the hospital is a
A law enforcement officer may serve and designated receiving facility.
execute an ex parte order on any day of
the week, at any time of the day or night A person for whom an involuntary
and may use such reasonable physical examination has been initiated who is being
force as is necessary to gain entry to evaluated or treated at a hospital for an
take custody of the person. emergency medical condition must be
examined by a receiving facility within 72
• A law enforcement officer shall take a hours. The 72-hour period begins when the
person who appears to meet the above patient arrives at the hospital and ceases
criteria into custody and deliver the when the attending physician documents
person to the nearest receiving facility. that the patient has an emergency medical
The officer shall execute a written report condition. One of the following must occur
detailing the circumstances under within 12 hours after the patient’s
which the person was taken into attending physician documents that the
custody, and the report shall be made patient’s medical condition has stabilized or
part of the patient’s clinical record. that an emergency medical condition does
not exist:
• A physician, clinical psychologist,
psychiatric nurse, or clinical social • The patient must be examined by a
worker, each as defined in the statute, designated receiving facility and
may execute a certificate stating that he released; or
or she has examined a person within
the preceding 48 hours and finds that • The patient must be transferred to a
the person appears to meet the criteria designated receiving facility in which
for involuntary examination and stating appropriate medical treatment is
the observations upon which that available.
conclusion is based. A law enforcement
officer shall take the person into • Designated receiving facilities must
custody and deliver him or her to the accept persons brought by law
nearest receiving facility and shall enforcement officers for involuntary
execute a written report detailing the examination. If appropriate under state
circumstances under which the person and federal law, the person may later be
was taken into custody. transferred to another facility.
Receiving facilities must send a copy of
When a law enforcement officer has custody the court order, law enforcement
of a person based on either non-criminal or officer’s report, or professional’s
minor criminal behavior that meets the certificate initiating the involuntary
statutory criteria for involuntary examination on the next working day
after the person’s arrival at the facility • He or she has refused voluntary
to: placement or is unable to determine for
himself or herself whether placement is
BA Reporting Center necessary; and
FMHI-MHC-2618
13301 Bruce B. Downs Blvd. • He or she is incapable of surviving alone
Tampa, Florida 33612-3807. or with the help of others and without
treatment is likely to suffer from neglect
If a person is removed from any program which poses a real and present threat of
licensed under Chapter 400, F.S. and taken substantial harm to his or her well-
to a receiving facility for involuntary being; or
examination without the required initiating
documentation (court’s ex parte order, law • There is substantial likelihood that in
enforcement report, or professional’s the near future he or she will inflict
certificate), such sending facility shall be serious bodily harm on himself or
reported no later than the next working day herself or another person, as evidenced
to AHCA by the receiving facility. by recent behavior causing, attempting,
or threatening such harm; and
Upon arrival at a receiving facility, a patient
shall be examined by a clinical psychologist • All available less restrictive treatment
or a physician experienced in the diagnosis alternatives which would offer an
and treatment of mental and nervous opportunity for improvement of his or
disorders without unnecessary delay. The her condition have been judged to be
patient shall not be released by the inappropriate.
receiving facility without the documented
approval of a psychiatrist or clinical Within 72 hours, or if the 72 hours ends on
psychologist. a weekend or holiday, no later than the
next working day thereafter, a petition for
A person may not be held in a receiving involuntary examination, shall be filed by
facility for involuntary examination longer the receiving facility administrator and
than 72 hours. Within the 72-hour supported by the opinion of a psychiatrist
examination period, one of the following and the second opinion of a clinical
must take place: psychologist or another psychiatrist, both of
whom have personally examined the patient
• The patient shall be released unless
within the preceding 72 hours, that the
charged with a crime;
criteria for involuntary placement are met
(in certain rural counties the second
• The patient shall be released for
opinion may be provided by a physician or
outpatient treatment;
psychiatric nurse, both with special
• The patient shall be asked to give
training and experience as defined in the
express and informed consent to
statute).
voluntary placement; or
The patient will have the public defender
• A petition for involuntary placement appointed by the court to represent him or
shall be filed with the court by the her unless otherwise represented by
facility administrator. counsel. The state attorney shall represent
the state, rather than the petitioning facility
Involuntary Placement administrator, as the real party in interest
in the proceeding. The patient has the right
A person may be involuntarily placed for to an independent expert examination
treatment upon a finding of the court by provided by the court.
clear and convincing evidence that he or
she is mentally ill and because of his or her The court shall hold the involuntary
mental illness: placement hearing within 5 days, unless a
continuance is granted. The court may
appoint a master to preside at the hearing.
One of the professionals who executed the Discharge of Involuntary Patients
involuntary placement petition shall be a
witness. At the hearing, the court shall Receiving and treatment facilities shall
consider testimony and evidence regarding discharge a patient at any time the patient
the patient’s competence to consent to no longer meets the criteria for involuntary
treatment. If the court finds that the patient placement, unless the patient has
is incompetent to consent to treatment, it transferred to voluntary status.
shall appoint a guardian advocate. If the
court concludes that the patient meets the
Transfer
criteria for involuntary placement, it shall
order that the patient be retained at or Patients may transfer:
transferred to an appropriate receiving or
treatment facility on an involuntary basis, • Between public facilities, upon the
for a period of up to 6 months. The request of the patient or specified others
administrator of a treatment facility may or upon the discretion of the
refuse admission to any patient directed to department to meet the medical or
its facilities on an involuntary basis, mental health treatment needs of the
whether by civil or criminal court order, patient or the availability of appropriate
who is not accompanied at the same time facility resources.
by adequate orders and documentation.
• From public to private facilities, upon
request of the patient, guardian or
Continued Involuntary Placement guardian advocate and upon acceptance
If a patient continues to meet the criteria of the patient by the private facility.
for involuntary placement, the
• From private to public facilities upon
administrator shall, prior to the expiration
request of the patient, guardian,
of the period during which the treatment
guardian advocate, or private facility,
facility is authorized to retain the patient,
and upon acceptance of the patient by
file a petition requesting authorization for
the public facility. The cost of such
continued involuntary placement. The
transfer requested by a private facility
request shall be accompanied by a
shall be the responsibility of the
statement from the patient’s physician or
sending facility
clinical psychologist justifying the request,
a brief description of the patient’s treatment • Between private facilities upon request
during the time he or she was involuntarily of the patient, guardian, or guardian
placed, and an individualized plan of advocate, and upon acceptance of the
continued treatment. patient by the facility to which transfer
is sought.
Hearings on petitions for continued
involuntary placement are administrative
rather than judicial hearings and are
conducted by an administrative law judge. Oversight
Unless the patient is otherwise represented The Department of Children and Families is
by counsel, he or she shall be represented designated the “Mental Health Authority” of
oat the hearing by the public defender. If at Florida. The department and the Agency
a hearing it is shown that the patient for Health Care Administration (AHCA)
continues to meet the criteria for exercise executive and administrative
involuntary placement, the administrative supervision over all mental health facilities,
law judge shall sign the order for continued programs, and services.
involuntary placement for a period not to
exceed 6 months. The same procedure The department shall report to the AHCA
shall be repeated prior to the expiration of any violation of the rights or privileges of
each additional period the patient is patients, or of any procedure provided by
retained. any facility or professional licensed or
regulated by the AHCA. The AHCA is
authorized to impose any sanction The Human Rights Advocacy Committee
authorized for violations of the Baker Act (HRAC) also has statutory responsibility to
based solely on the investigation and oversee the proper implementation of the
findings of the department. Baker Act. Any designated receiving or
treatment facility must allow access to any
The department shall adopt rules patient and the clinical and legal records of
establishing the forms and procedures any patient by members of the HRAC.
relating to the rights and privileges of Notice that a patient is being admitted as
patients seeking mental health treatment an involuntary patient shall be given to the
from designated receiving and treatment local HRAC no later than the next working
facilities. Unless designated by the day after the patient is admitted.
department, facilities are not permitted to
hold or treat involuntary patients.
APPENDIX B: MAP OF FLORIDA COUNTIES AND
DEPARTMENT OF CHILDREN AND FAMILIES DISTRICTS
This map represents the configuration of districts

prior to the recent reorganization
1 4
2
3
12
Florida Counties and Department of 13
Children and Families Districts
District 1 District 4 District 10
Escambia
Okaloosa
Baker
Clay
Broward
5 7
Santa Rosa Duval District 11
Walton Nassau Dade
St. John Monroe 6 14
District 2
Bay District 5 District 12
Calhoun Pasco Flagler 15
Franklin Pinellas Volusia
Gadsden
Gulf District 6 District 13
Holmes
Jackson
Hillsborough
Manatee
Citrus
Hernando
8
Jefferson Lake 9
Leon District 7 Marion
Liberty Brevard Sumter
Madison
Taylor
Orange
Osceola District 14
10
Wakulla Seminole Hardee
Washington Highlands
District 3
District 8
Charlotte
Polk
11
Alachua Collier District 15
Bradford DeSoto Indian River
Columbia Glades Martin
Dixie Hendry Okeechobee
Gilchrist Lee St. Lucie
Hamilton Sarasota
Lafayette
Levy District 9
Putnam Palm Beach
Suwanee
Union
APPENDIX C: FLORIDA BAKER ACT RECEIVING FACILITIES
FOR CALENDAR YEAR 2000
Florida Baker Act Receiving Facilities
D = Department of Children and Families District
All Veteran’s Administration Hospitals are listed as “Veteran’s Administration Hospital” followed by the
specific hospital name or location
FACILITY ADDRESS CITY D COUNTY

45th Street Community Mental Health Center 1041 45th Street West Palm Beach 09 Palm Beach
ACT Corporation CSU & SRT 1150 Red John Road Daytona Beach 12 Volusia
Apalachee Center for Human Services, Inc. 2634-A Capital Circle NE Tallahassee 02 Leon
Atlantic Shores Hospital 4545 North Federal Highway Fort Lauderdale 10 Broward
Aventura Hospital and Medical Center 20900 Biscayne Boulevard Adventura 11 Dade
Baptist Hospital 1101 West Moreno Street Pensacola 01 Escambia
Baptist Medical Center 800 Prudential Drive Jacksonville 04 Duval
Bay County Behavioral Health Center 1940 Harrison Avenue Panama City 02 Bay
Bay Medical Center 615 North Bonita Avenue Panama City 02 Bay
Bayside Center for Behavioral Health 1650 South Osprey Avenue Sarasota 08 Sarasota
Bayview Center for Mental Health, Inc. 9400 N.W. 12th Avenue Miami 11 Dade
Bon Secours - Venice Hospital Behavioral Health Services 540 The Rialto Venice 08 Sarasota
Bridgeway Center, Inc. 137 Hospital Drive Fort Walton Beach 01 Okaloosa
Broward County Mental Health Divisions/ 2677 NW 19th Street Ft. Lauderdale 10 Broward
19th Street CSU
Broward General Medical Center 1600 South Andrews Avenue Fort Lauderdale 10 Broward
Building 57 at Northeast Florida State Hospital Highway 121 South MacClenny 03 Baker
(Facility Designated as of 12/00)*
Cedars Medical Center 1400 N.W. 12th Avenue Miami 11 Dade
Charlotte Community Mental Health Ctr., Inc. 1700 Education Avenue Port Charlotte 08 Charlotte
Charter Glade Behavioral Health System (Closed 7/00) 3550 Colonial Boulevard Ft. Myers 08 Lee
Charter Hospital Tampa Bay (Closed 2/00) 4004 North Riverside Drive Tampa 06 Hillsborough
Charter Springs Hospital (Closed 8/00) 3130 SW 27th Avenue Ocala 13 Marion
Circles of Care, Inc. 400 E. Sheridan Road Melbourne 07 Brevard
Citrus Health Network 4175 West 20th Hialeah 11 Dade
Coastal Recovery Center, Inc. Kreisman Center, 1451 10th St Sarasota 08 Sarasota
*Although this facility was designated in December 2000, the first client was not examined until March 2001. This means that no data
for this facility are contained in this report.
Columbia Deering Hospital 9333 S.W. 152nd Street Miami 11 Dade
Columbia Pavilion 2201 45th Street West Palm Beach 09 Palm Beach
Community Hospital of New Port Richey 5637 Marine Parkway New Port Richey 05 Pasco
Community Mental Health Center of South Dade 10300 S.W. 216th Street Miami 11 Dade
David Lawrence Mental Health Center, Inc. 6075 Golden Gate Parkway Naples 08 Collier
Eastside Psychiatric Hospital 2634-B Capital Circle, N.E. Tallahassee 02 Leon

-Data submitted for 2000 was labeled as coming from
Apalachee Cenber for Human Services
Fair Oaks Pavilion of Delray Medical Center 5440 Linton Boulevard Delray Beach 09 Palm Beach
Flagler Hospital 400 Health Park Boulevard St. Augustine 04 St. John's
Florida Hospital 601 East Rollins Avenue Orlando 07 Orange
Florida Hospital Heartland Medical Center 1210 US Highway 27 North Lake Placid 14 Highlands
Florida Medical Center Adult, Psychiatric Unit 5000 West Oakland Park Blvd Ft. Lauderdale 10 Broward
Fort Lauderdale Hospital 1601 East Las Olas Boulevard Fort Lauderdale 10 Broward
Fort Walton Beach Medical Center 1000 Mar-Walt Drive Fort Walton Beach 01 Okaloosa
Guidance Clinic of the Middle Keys 11399 Overseas Highway Marathon 11 Monroe
Halifax Psychiatric Center North 841 Jimmy Ann Drive Daytona Beach 12 Volusia
Halifax Medical Center 303 North Clyde Morris Blvd. Daytona Beach 12 Volusia
Heart of Florida Behavioral Center 2510 North Florida Avenue Lakeland 14 Polk
(Designation withdrawn 2/00)
Hollywood Pavilion Hospital 1201 North 37th Avenue Hollywood 10 Broward
Imperial Point Medical Center 6401 North Federal Highway Fort Lauderdale 10 Broward
Indian River Memorial Hospital - Center for Emotional and 1190 37th Street Vero Beach 15 Indian River
Behavioral Health
Institute for Mental Health at St. Mary’s Hospital 901 45th Street West Palm Beach 09 Palm Beach
Jackson Memorial Hospital, Psychiatric Institute 1611 N.W. 12th Avenue Miami 11 Dade
Lake City Medical Center 1701 West Duval Street Lake City 03 Columbia
Lakeland Regional Medical Center 1324 Lakeland Highlands Blvd Lakeland 14 Polk
Lakeside Alternatives, Inc. 434 West Kennedy Blvd. Orlando 07 Orange
Lakeview Center, Inc. 1221 W. Lakeview Avenue Pensacola 01 Escambia
Larkin Community Hospital 7031 S.W. 62nd Avenue South Miami 11 Dade
Lawnood Regional Medical Center 1860 North Lawnwood Circle Fort Pierce 15 St. Lucie
Life Management Center of Northwest Florida 525 E. 15th Street Panama City 02 Bay
Life Management Center of Northwest Florida 525 East 15th Street Panama City 02 Bay
Life Stream Behavioral Center 2020 Tally Road Leesburg 13 Lake
Lock Towns Community Mental Health Center 633 N.E. 167th St Suite 402 N. Miami Beach 11 Dade
Lower Keys Medical Center 1200 Kennedy Drive Key West 11 Monroe
Manatee Glens Hospital 2020 26th Avenue East Bradenton 06 Manatee

-Data for Manatee Glens Hospital is aggregated with data
from Manatee Glens Hospital CSU in this report
Manatee Glens Hospital CSU 2020 26th Avenue East Bradenton 06 Manatee
Manatee Memorial Hospital 206 Second Street, East Bradenton 06 Manatee
Marion-Citrus Mental Health Centers, Inc. 5664 SW 60th Avenue Ocala 13 Marion
Memorial Hospital of Tampa, Ltd. 2901 Swann Avenue Tampa 06 Hillsborough
Memorial Regional Hospital 3501 Johnson Street Hollywood 10 Broward
Mental Health Care, Inc. 5707 North 22nd Street Tampa 06 Hillsborough
Mental Health Center of Jacksonville 3333 20th Street West Jacksonville 04 Duval
Mental Health Resource Center 11820 Beach Boulevard Jacksonville 04 Duval
Mercy Hospital, Inc. 3663 South Miami Avenue Miami 11 Dade
Meridian Behavioral Health Care Center 4300 S.W. 13th Street Gainesville 03 Alachua
Meridian Behavioral Health Care, Inc., Gateway CSU 950 Michigan Street Lake City 03 Columbia
Miami Behavioral Health Center 3830 W. Flagler Street Miami 11 Dade
Miami Children's Hospital 6125 S.W. 31st Street Miami 11 Dade
Morton F. Plant Hospital 323 Jeffords Street Clearwater 05 Pinellas
Mount Sinai Medical Center 4300 Alton Road Miami Beach 11 Dade
New Horizons Community Mental Health Ctr. 1469 N.W. 36th Street Miami 11 Dade
New Horizons of the Treasure Coast, Inc. 714 Avenue "H" Fort Pierce 15 St. Lucie
North Shore Medical Center 1100 N.W. 95th Street Miami 11 Dade
Orange Park Medical Center 2001 Kingsley Avenue Orange Park 04 Clay
Park Place Behavioral Healthcare 208 Park Place Boulevard Kissimmee 07 Osceola
(Name changed from Osceola Evaluation and Treatment
Center – 1/01)
Palmetto General Hospital 2001 West 68th Street Hialeah 11 Dade
Parkway Regional Medical Center 160 N.W. 170th Street North Miami Beach 11 Dade
Peace River Center for Personal Development 1255 Gulf View Avenue Bartow 14 Polk
Personal Enrichment Through Mental Health Services, Inc. 11254 58th Street, North Pinellas Park 05 Pinellas
Riverside Behavioral Center 733 E. Olympia Ave Punta Gorda 08 Charlotte
Ruth Cooper Center, Inc. 2789 Ortiz Avenue Fort Myers 08 Lee
Savannas Hospital 2550 S.E. Walton Road Port St. Lucie 15 St. Lucie
Seminole Community Mental Health Center 237 Fernwood Blvd. Fern Park 07 Seminole
Seven Rivers Community Hospital (Closed 2/00) 6201 North Suncoast Boulevard Crystal River 13 Citrus
Shands at Vista 8900 NW 39th Avenue Gainesville 03 Alachua
Shands Hospital 1600 S.W. Archer Rd., Gainesville 03 Alachua

JHMHC Box 100238
Shands Jacksonville 655 West 8th Street Jacksonville 04 Duval
South County Mental Health Center 16158 South Military Trail Delray Beach 09 Palm Beach
South Seminole Hospital 555 West State Road 434 Longwood 07 Seminole
South Shore Hospital and Medical Center 630 Alton Road Miami Beach 11 Dade
Southern Winds Hospital 4225 West 20th Avenue Hialeah 11 Dade
Springbrook Hospital 7007 Grove Road Brooksville 13 Hernando
St. Anthony's Hospital, Inc. 1200 7th Avenue North St. Petersburg 05 Pinellas
St. Joseph’s Hospital 3001 West M.L. King, Jr. Blvd Tampa 06 Hillsborough
St. Vincent's Medical Center 1800 Barrs Street Jacksonville 04 Duval
Sun Coast Hospital 2050 Indian Rocks Road Largo 05 Pinellas
Sunrise Regional Medical Center 555 148th Avenue, S.W. Sunrise 10 Broward
Tallahassee Memorial Regional Medical Center Magnolia Dr. & Miccosukee Rd. Tallahassee 02 Leon
Tampa General Hospital Davis Island Tampa 06 Hillsborough
Ten Broeck Hospital 6300 Beach Boulevard Jacksonville 04 Duval
The Harbor Behavioral Healthcare Institute 8002 King Helie Boulevard New Port Richey 05 Pasco
University Pavilion Hospital 7425 North University Drive Tamarac 10 Broward
Veteran’s Administration Hospital – Bay Pines 10000 Bay Pines Boulevard St. Petersburg 05 Pinellas
Veteran's Administration Hospital – Gainesville 1601 S.W. Archer Road Gainesville 03 Alachua
Veteran's Administration Hospital – Miami 1201 N.W. 16th Street Miami 11 Dade
Veteran's Administration Hospital – Tampa 13000 North 30th Street Tampa 06 Hillsborough
Veteran’s Administration Hospital – West Palm 7305 North Military Trail Palm Beach 09 Palm Beach
West Florida Community Care Center 5500 Stewart Street Milton 01 Santa Rosa
West Florida Regional Medical Center 8383 North Davis Highway Pensacola 01 Escambia
Westchester General Hospital 2500 S.W. 75th Miami 11 Dade
Western Palm Beach Mental Health Clinic, Inc. 1024 N.W. Avenue "D" Belle Glade 09 Palm Beach
Windmoor Healthcare, Inc. (Clearwater) 11300 U.S. 19 South Clearwater 05 Pinellas
Windmoor Healthcare, Inc. (Miami) 1861 N.W. South River Drive Miami 11 Dade
Winter Haven Hospital Center for Psychiatry 200 Avenue "F" N.E. Winter Haven 14 Polk
Winter Park Pavilion 1600 Dodd Road Winter Park 07 Seminole
Wuesthoff Memorial Hospital 110 Longwood Avenue Rockledge 07 Brevard

The Florida Mental Health Act (The Baker Act) 2000 Annual Report

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The Florida Mental Health Act (The Baker Act) 2000 Annual Report

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The Florida Mental Health Act

(The Baker Act)

2000 Annual Report

Prepared for the Florida Agency for Health Care

Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute

For Information Contact:

Dr. Annette McGaha, Assistant Professor

New This Year ................................................................................................. 3

Report Highlights ............................................................................................ 4

Technical Notes About Data Analyses.............................................................. 7

State Level Analyses........................................................................................ 8

Analysis of Data for Indivdiuals with Multiple Baker Act Intiations....... 19

Circuit, District and County Level Analyses ................................................... 23

Judicial Circuits .................................................................................. 24

Department of Children & Families Districts and Florida Counties....... 27

AHCA Field Offices............................................................................... 33

Facility Level Analyses................................................................................... 34

Appendix A: Overview of Baker Act Provisions ............................................... 40

Appendix B: Map of Florida Counties and Districts........................................ 47

Appendix C: Florida Baker Act Receiving Facilities......................................... 49

• Detailed analyses based on Judicial Circuits (see pages 36 to 38)

• Continuous enhancements to the Baker Act Reporting Center website at:

• The majority of Baker Act initiations were completed by mental health

• A small majority of individuals were male (51%).

Forms Received from Non-Baker Baker Act Receiving Facilities

Table 1: Non-Baker Act Receiving Facilities

Some percentages do not sum to 100% due to rounding.

The number of forms received at the BA Reporting Center has increased

Figure 1: Count of Forms Received in Calendar Years 1997 through 2000

100,000 The 83,989 Baker Act forms received in

As discussed in the Technical Section above, analyses were conducted on the

Figure 2: Number of Baker Act Initiation Forms Received Per Month

Certificates can be completed by mental health professionals, law

Figure 3: Certificate Types

One of the following was then recorded in the database.

Figure 4: Distribution of Evidence Type

Statewide, only “neglect” was

Figure 5: Certificate Type by Evidence Type

Figure 6: Distribution of Harm Type

Figure 7: Certificate Type by Harm Type

Table 2: Age Specific Analyses by Number of Involuntary Initiations

Age N % Certificate Type Evidence Type in %

85 to 89 996 1 783 79 198 20 15 2 373 37 448 45 86 9 89 9

Figure 9: Race/Ethnicity of Clients

Combinations of Demographic Information

Age by Gender and Race

Table 4 presents the mean age of persons committed by certificate and

Table 4: Age by Certificate Type and Evidence Type

Certification Type by Gender and Race

Table 6: Certificate Type by Gender and Race

Table 7: Evidence Type by Gender and Race/Ethnicity

Table 8: Multiple Initiations by Age Categories

Age Ranges # of Initiations %

*This number is slightly lower than the 46,560 records for

Table 9: Certificate Type by Number of Initiations (4/1/99-12/31/00)

6 to 10 initiations 1,086 17 4,465 71 355 6 404 6 6,310 893

11to 15 initiations 195 14 1,080 71 80 6 66 5 1,421 115

>15 initiations 61 10 512 81 31 5 32 5 636 32

Total 9,146 20% 31,145 67% 3,147 7% 3,122 7% 46,560 15,879

The following analyses present data according to Florida Judicial Districts,

Table 11 summarizes data according to the 20 Florida Judicial Circuits. The

Table 11: Forms Received by Judicial Circuit