Significant Mental Health Legislation Advances within House

Sarah Hohman, Director of Government Affairs

The House Ways and Means Committee marked up several bipartisan mental health bills this week and advanced the legislative package to the full House of Representatives.

Of note, H.R. 432 would add mental health counselors and marriage and family therapists as covered Medicare providers, including in the RHC setting. NARHC has been advocating for the addition of these providers to increase access to necessary behavioral health services and we are very pleased by this provision.

Another bill that advanced in this package, H.R. 8878 would create a “special payment rule” for Medicare coverage of intensive outpatient programs in RHCs and FQHCs, supporting a care delivery model for patients that need services beyond the scope of traditional outpatient care but do not rise to the level of inpatient or partial hospitalization care. In his comments during the markup, Representative Adrian Smith (R-NE) highlighted the value of channeling “our existing resources like RHCs, FQHCs, and community based mental health providers so they can be more effectively utilized by those seeking mental health care.”

We remain grateful for our champions in Congress that include RHCs in these important conversations and bills and will continue to update this community as these packages advance.

We encourage you to stay up to date on key RHC news on NARHC.org and contact Sarah Hohman, NARHC Director of Government Affairs, Sarah.Hohman@narhc.org, or Nathan Baugh, NARHC Executive Director, Nathan.Baugh@narhc.org with any questions or concerns.