CEO Update 239
Congress Advances Legislation for Veterans’ Healthcare Services
Congress this week continued to focus on the Veterans Affairs (VA) Community Care Network by advancing several Community Care-focused bills and the Senate FY 2026 Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act to increase funding levels for the Community Care Network.
Both the House and Senate committees that oversee veterans’ care advanced bills that would expand access to community care for veterans while standardizing and improving VA mental health programs.
The Veterans’ Assuring Critical Care Expansions to Support Servicemembers Act of 2025 (ACCESS)(S. 275 | H.R. 740), introduced in the Senate by Senate VA Committee Chairman Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) and in the House by House VA Committee Chairman Mike Bost (R-Ill.), would codify standards for veterans to receive community-based care that cannot be provided by the VA with a primary care, mental health care, or extended care appointment within a 30-minute drive or within 20 days or Veterans with a specialty care appointment within an hour’s drive or within 28 or fewer days.
The bill also requires the VA Department to create a “standardized screening process” for veterans to participate in mental health treatment programs; develop a three-year pilot program allowing veterans to access mental health and/or substance use disorder programs in the community without a referral; and establish tracking on wait times and care availability for mental health programs, among other improvements. Both bills are pending full consideration on the House and Senate floors.
In addition to The ACCESS Act, the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee passed 24 pieces of legislation to improve the lives of veterans, caregivers, and survivors nationwide. These bills include the Veterans Mental Health and Addiction Therapy Quality of Care Act and External Provider Scheduling Program Act.
S.702, Sen. John Cornyn’s (R-Texas) The Veterans Mental Health and Addiction Therapy Quality of Care Act, requires the VA Department to seek to enter into an agreement with an independent and objective organization outside the VA to conduct a study on the quality-of-care differences between mental health and addiction therapy care that VA healthcare providers offer compared with non-VA providers across various modalities, such as telehealth, in-patient, intensive out-patient treatment, and residential treatment.
And S. 654, The External Provider Scheduling Program Act – also from Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) – amends title 38 of the United States Code to establish an external provider scheduling program that would assist the VA Department in scheduling appointments for care and services under the Veterans Community Care Program. The program must consist of technology that allows VA schedulers to view the schedules of healthcare providers participating in the program and schedule, in real-time, appointments for such care.
Also last week the Senate Appropriations Committee also passed the FY 2026 Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, which included a notable 50% increase compared with the FY2024 enacted level for community care. This increase elevates community care funding to $33 billion, up from $22 billion in FY2024. This is similar to levels the House Appropriations Committee passed in July. Senate leaders and appropriators are now trying to agree on a three-or-four bill package deal of FY2026 government funding bills, including for military construction and VA, with the goal of voting on the measure when lawmakers return from their August recess.
SAMHSA Releases 2024 National Survey on Drug Use
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) this week released the results of its 2024 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), which offers a national view of behavioral health based on self-reported responses from nearly 70,000 people
2024 marks the first year since 2020 in which there are at least four years of comparable data for key NSDUH outcomes, adjusting for survey design changes since 2020 and enabling trend reporting for the first time since 2019.
The results showed that among adults 18 and older, the percentage who had any mental illness (AMI) or serious mental illness (SMI) in the past year showed no change from 2021 to 2024. Among U.S. adolescents aged 12 to 17, the percentage who had serious thoughts of suicide in the past year declined to 10.1% in 2024 from 12.9% in 2021.
Meanwhile, the survey showed mixed results on substance use outcomes, as prescription opioid misuse among people 12 or older declined to 2.6% in 2024 from 3.0% in 2021 and marijuana use in that same age group increased to 22.3% in 2024 from 19.0% in 2021.
CMS Seeking Participants for Hospital Price Transparency Virtual Listening Session: Aug. 11
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is seeking hospital and health system representatives to attend a Hospital Price Transparency (HPT) consumer-friendly display listening session with CMS staff to help the agency better understand how to empower consumers with accessible and actionable pricing information and make more meaningful price comparisons.
This session will focus solely on the HPT program’s consumer-friend display requirement, and staff from the federal contractor MITRE will ask several questions about the consumer-friendly format functionality, including required standard data elements to enhance comparability, number and type of services of most interest, patient interaction with the consumer-friendly display, and the intersection with other programs, such as the Transparency in Coverage and No Surprises Act.
The listening session will be held on Monday, Aug. 11 from 12:30 p.m. to 2 p.m. ET. Please contact MITRE_HPT@mitre.org if you want to participate.
ICYMI: HHS Announces Funding Opportunity for Behavioral Health Information Technology Pilot
HHS recently announced a funding opportunity to promote behavioral health data exchange and pilot the implementation of a specified set of behavioral health data elements.
HHS anticipates distributing $5 million across six to 10 participants, which will include a wide range of provider organizations that receive SAMHSA grant funds or partner with recipients. More information can be found in the Request for Application and Frequently Asked Questions document.
The deadline for the expression of interest was Wednesday, July 2. For those who expressed interest, full applications are due Wednesday, Aug. 27.
An HHS representative has offered to schedule a meeting between NABH members and the contractor administering the program to provide more detailed information and answer questions ahead of the application deadline.
Please contact Dan Schwartz if you are interested in attending such a meeting. NABH will schedule a meeting if there is sufficient interest.
Fact of the Week
Among adolescents aged 12 to 17, the percentage who had a major depressive episode in the past year declined to 15.4% in 2024 from 20.8% in 2021, according to SAMHSA’s latest annual survey on drug use and health.
For questions or comments about this CEO Update, please contact Jessica Zigmond.