House Energy and Commerce Committee Passes SUPPORT Act Reauthorization Bill
The House Energy and Commerce Committee this week voted unanimously to pass the SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Reauthorization Act (SUPPORT), which would renew programs from the 2018 law that would otherwise expire at the end of September.
“Today’s SUPPORT
Act reauthorization includes a number of key bipartisan wins, including agreements on lifting the IMD exclusion, helping people in our criminal justice system, and caring for foster youth in need,” House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers said in a
statement after the committee passed the bill on Wednesday.
Rep. Michael Burgess, M.D. (R-Texas) sponsored a bill included in the reauthorization act to remove the decades-old Institutions for Mental Diseases (IMD) exclusion.
“It is no longer the 1960s and there is no longer the same stigma against the treatment of mental health,” Burgess told the news outlet
Politico. Burgess also pushed for boosting the healthcare workforce and supporting providers “to ensure that mental health and substance use patients have access to personalized care, personalized medicine.”
The legislation also includes a provision that would allow federal funding to pay for test strips that can detect drugs such as fentanyl and the animal tranquilizer xylazine that drug dealers often mix with it.
House lawmakers could vote on the measure before they leave Washington for Congress’ August recess. NABH will keep members apprised of developments.
Becerra to Host 988 Stakeholder Webinar Today at 1 p.m. ET
U.S. Health and Human Services Department (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra and Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) Assistant Secretary Miriam Delphin-Rittmon will host a 988 Lifeline anniversary stakeholder webinar today, Friday, July 21 at 1 p.m. ET.
Other Biden administration officials will join the event, which commemorates one year since the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline launched.
The webinar will last 30 minutes. Click
here to register.
NABH Supports Bowman Family Foundation Report on Equitable Access
NABH supports the Bowman Family Foundation’s new report,
Equitable Access to Mental Health and Substance Use Care: An Urgent Need, which examines strategies for bridging the gap in access to mental health and substance use care.
The 33-page report found that 57% of patients sought mental health or substance use care but did not receive any care in at least one case, compared with 32% of patients seeking physical healthcare. For children and teens under 18 (defined here as “adolescents”), the “care not received” figure was 69% for mental health or substance use compared with 17% for physical health (see Figure 2 on p. 11 of the report).
Meanwhile, 80% of patients in employer-sponsored health plans who received outpatient care from at least one out-of-network mental health or substance use provider said they went to out-of-network providers “all of the time,” compared with 6% of patients who said the same for physical healthcare.
NABH strongly supports the report’s recommendation for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and the Treasury to issue additional guidance on detailed templates for MHPAEA compliance data reporting to employer group plans, third party administrators, and insurance issuers that indicates what data they should be prepared to submit upon request.
SAMHSA Seeking Comments on Harm Reduction Framework Draft
SAMHSA is seeking public comment on a draft of the agency’s
Harm Reduction Framework, which is intended to inform SAMHSA’s harm-reduction activities as well as all related policies, programs, and practices.
Comments are due by Monday, Aug. 14 at 5 p.m. ET.
SAMHSA Releases Advisory on Digital Therapeutics in Behavioral Health
SAMHSA this week released
Digital Therapeutics for Management and Treatment in Behavioral Health, which describes the research, regulatory, and reimbursement implications for digital therapeutics, including those by various federal agencies.
The advisory also maps out selection and implementation considerations for payers and providers and addresses issues related to equitable access to behavioral healthcare.
Kaiser Family Foundation Examines Federal Policy for SUD Treatment
A new Kaiser Family Foundation analysis found that 24% more buprenorphine was dispensed in 2022 than in 2019, the year before the COVID-19 global pandemic.
Health policy researchers examined five essential federal policies governing SUD treatment, the changes they have undergone during the pandemic, and the implications for access and treatment to opioid use disorder.
Click
here to read the brief analysis.
Reminder: DEA Registration Training Requirement for Buprenorphine Prescribing
Early this year SAMSHA announced that clinicians no longer need a federal waiver to prescribe buprenorphine to treat opioid use disorder; however, clinicians must still register with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) to prescribe controlled medications.
In late June, the DEA announced that both new and renewing applicants must complete a new, one-time, eight-hour training course. Exceptions for the training requirement are practitioners who are board-certified in addiction medicine or addiction psychiatry, and those who graduated from a medical, dental, physician assistant, or advanced practice nursing school in the United States within five years of June 27, 2023.
Click
here to learn more about the training.
Reminder: Please Submit Data to Enhance NABH’s Managed-Care Denials
Thank you to all members who have submitted data to NABH’s denial-of-care portal!
We are still seeking data from additional members to support advocacy on health plan denials and prior-authorization timeliness. If you are a new participant, please e-mail NABH Administrative Coordinator
Emily Wilkins for support.
Fact of the Week:
A new
report from the HHS Office of the Inspector General found three factors that raise concerns that some people enrolled in Medicaid managed care may not be receiving all medically necessary healthcare services intended to be covered: (1) the high number and rates of denied prior authorization requests by some managed care organizations, (2) the limited oversight of prior authorization denials in most states, and 3) the limited access to external medical reviews.
For questions or comments about this CEO Update, please contact Jessica Zigmond.