US Congress Senate Bill 2173 (Prior Session Legislation)

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Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 4-0)
Status: Introduced on October 8 2015 - 25% progression, died in committee
Action: 2015-10-08 - Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
Pending: Senate Finance Committee
Text: Latest bill text (Introduced) [PDF]

Improving Access to Mental Health Act of 2015 This bill amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to: (1) increase the Medicare reimbursement rate for clinical social worker services, (2) exclude clinical social worker services from the prospective payment system in which predetermined amounts form the basis for payment under Medicare, and (3) alter the definition of "clinical social worker services" as it relates to Medicare. Under current law, "clinical social worker services": (1) include services performed for the diagnosis and treatment of mental illnesses, and (2) exclude services furnished to an inpatient of a skilled nursing facility as a condition of the facility's participation in the Medicare program. The bill repeals these provisions and instead specifies that such services include certain types of health behavior assessment and intervention.

Improving Access to Mental Health Act of 2015

Sen. Debbie Stabenow [D-MI]

Sen. Barbara Mikulski [D-MD]

Sen. Christopher Murphy [D-CT]

Sen. Richard Blumenthal [D-CT]

Date	Chamber	Action
2015-10-08	Senate	Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.

HB3712 (Related) 2015-10-09 - Referred to the Subcommittee on Health.

Type	Source
Summary	https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/senate-bill/2173/all-info
Text	https://www.congress.gov/114/bills/s2173/BILLS-114s2173is.pdf