Maternal home visiting, mental health bills advance in House

Sep 21, 2022 - 04:01 PM
A mother holds a newborn baby in a hospital bed

The House Ways and Means Committee today voted to advance to the full House bipartisan legislation (H.R.8876) that would reauthorize the federal Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program, and double annual funding for the program to $800 million over five years. The committee also passed five packages of mental health bills. Among other provisions, the bills would: 
•    Add Medicare outpatient mental health treatment options and direct the Health and Human Services secretary to revise the Medicare payment system for inpatient psychiatric facilities.
•    Add marriage and family therapists and mental health counselors as Medicare providers; remove regulatory barriers that prevent hospitals from offering wellness benefits to all physicians; and direct the Administration to consider ways to increase access to stimulant addiction therapy.
•    Require coverage of forensic medical exams with no cost sharing.
•    Require private health plans to provide more data on their mental health benefits.
•    Evaluate health plans on their mental health network adequacy and require plans to submit machine-readable files describing their mental health and substance use disorder benefits.
 

Related News Articles

Headline
MedPAC urged by AHA to scrutinize MA impacts on hospital and post-acute provider finances
The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission met April 9 and 10 to discuss several topics, including the relationship between Medicare Advantage enrollment and…
Headline
CMS issues update on PAMA data reporting webinar
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services issued an updated registration link for its webinar April 16 at 3 p.m. ET on Medicare Clinical…
Perspective
Protecting Access to Care for Our Most Severely Ill Patients
Public
Few patient populations are more vulnerable to the shifting winds around health care today than Medicare beneficiaries who need specialized, high-acuity and…
Headline
U.S. birth rate declined 1% in 2025, CDC finds 
The U.S. birth rate declined by 1% in 2025, according to preliminary data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The cesarean delivery…
Headline
CMS finalizes Medicare Advantage rates for CY 2027
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services April 6 released the Medicare Advantage and Part D Rate Announcement for calendar year 2027. The rate…
Headline
CMS finalizes policy and technical changes to Medicare, MA, Part D for CY 2027 
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services April 2 released a final rule on policy and technical changes to Medicare Advantage, the Medicare Prescription…