Sens. Barrasso and Coons Introduce Bill to Expand Medicare Mental Health Coverage for Seniors
This bill is currently in the early stages of the legislative process. It was introduced in the Senate and is now being reviewed by the Committee on Finance. There are no upcoming votes scheduled at this time.
The bill has strong bipartisan support from leaders in both parties, which helps its chances. However, many healthcare bills face delays in the Senate Finance Committee.
The bill expands Medicare coverage by allowing clinical social worker services in skilled nursing facilities to be billed separately from the facility's bundled payment. This means more seniors in nursing homes could actually receive mental health and behavioral health services that were previously hard to access because facilities had little financial incentive to provide them under the bundled system.
“Exclusion of clinical social worker services from the skilled nursing facility prospective payment system.--Section 1888(e)(2)(A)(iii) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395yy(e)(2)(A)(iii)) is amended by adding at the end the following new subclause: ``(VII) Clinical social worker services (as defined in section 1861(hh)(2)).''”
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance. (text: CR S2954)
Sent to a congressional committee for expert review. The committee decides whether this bill moves forward.
Introduced in Senate
The bill was officially filed and given a number. It now enters the legislative queue.
No votes have been recorded for this legislation yet.
Document Type
Congressional Bill
Official Title
Expanding Seniors Access to Mental Health Services Act
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