The Senate Finance Committee today passed Sen. Debbie Stabenow’s legislation that would expand behavioral health care and support the social workers, psychiatrists, and other professionals who provide these services, according to a news release.
The Committee’s bipartisan mental health task force has written legislation to improve mental health and substance use services for Americans, the release added.
Over the past years, behavioral health clinics and services have expanded across the country, but those clinics will not be able to provide comprehensive care without a sufficient number of mental health professionals and providers. Stabenow’s provisions will expand the mental health workforce, which will make it easier for Americans to get mental health and substance use disorder care when they need it.
“We know that you can’t have mental health care without mental health professionals. That’s why we’ve been working to take the important steps to invest in the workforce that is needed to achieve our goals of quality mental health and substance use disorder services for all Americans who need them,” said Stabenow. “Our bipartisan taskforce has been working to build on the progress we made when we passed transformative community mental health care for the country last year.”
Satbenow's provisions that were included as part of the Better Mental Health Care, Lower-Cost Drugs, and Extenders Act would:
- Expand Medicare’s Health Professional Shortage Area bonus program to attract more mental health care providers to shortage areas, including many rural communities.
- Require Medicaid to issue new guidance to states on increasing the mental health workforce.
- Ensure clinical social workers can provide their full range of services to Medicare beneficiaries, including patients in nursing homes.
