Requires the Department of Health and Human Services (Department) to conduct a three‑year pilot program to assist rural hospitals in converting existing, unused acute care beds into licensed, short‑term inpatient behavioral health beds. Requires the Secretary to select rural hospitals located in two different regions of the state that are currently participating in the statewide telepsychiatry program to participate in the pilot program, with at least one located in the rural area surrounding Wake County. Sets the maximum number of beds that may be converted into short‑term inpatient behavioral health beds in each region at 50. Allows the selected rural hospitals to convert unused acute care beds into licensed inpatient psychiatric or substance abuse beds for adults, adolescents, children, or all three, without undergoing certificate of need review by the Division of Health Service Regulation. Requires at least 50% of the beds converted under the pilot program be reserved for purchase by the Department under the state‑administered three‑way contract and referrals by local management entities/managed care organizations (LME/MCOs) of individuals who are Medicaid recipients or indigent.

Requires the Department to conduct monitoring visits at the program participants at least once every six months and makes the Department responsible for investigating all complaints related to the pilot program. Sets out participant reporting requirements. Gives the Department the authority to suspend or terminate the pilot program at any time due to noncompliance with applicable regulatory requirements that has resulted in serious harm to individuals receiving behavioral health services under the pilot program or when there is a substantial risk that serious harm will occur to individuals receiving behavioral health services under the pilot program.

Requires the Department to report on the status of the pilot program at least once each year to the Program Evaluation Division and the Fiscal Research Division. 

Requires the General Assembly's Program Evaluation Division to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the pilot program and report to the Joint Legislative Program Evaluation Oversight Committee and the Joint Legislative Oversight Committee on Health and Human Services no later than November 1, 2017.

Requires the net proceeds of any sale of the Dorothea Dix Hospital campus to be deposited into the Mental Health Trust Fund. Requires a sufficient amount of these proceeds shall be appropriated to the Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities, and Substances Abuse Services, for the 2015‑16 fiscal year to pay for any renovation or building costs associated with converting existing acute care beds into licensed, short‑term inpatient behavioral health beds designated for voluntarily and involuntarily committed patients in the rural hospitals selected to participate in the pilot program.

Effective July 1, 2015, and expires on June 30, 2018.