A major House committee will consider mental health reform next week, working to advance the legislation before Congress leaves town for summer recess.
Rep. Tim Murphy’s “Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act” has been scheduled for a markup in the House Energy and Commerce Committee June 15, after undergoing significant revisions from a version passed in subcommittee late last year.
After Democrats objected to some parts of the bill, committee staffers worked to smooth differences by eliminating some of the bill’s most controversial provisions. The revamped version removes a provision that would have fully repealed an old Medicaid rule prohibiting reimbursements to hospitals with more than 16 psychiatric beds. It also rolls back pathways that would have allowed family members to gain access to the health records of the seriously mentally ill.
Overall, the bill seeks to improve and streamline how various government agencies deliver mental healthcare to Americans by creating a new assistant secretary of mental health under the Department of Health and Human Services, ordering an audit of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and requiring evidence-based approaches, among other reforms.
“Next week we’ll mark a critical milestone in the multi-year effort to begin to deliver meaningful bipartisan reforms for families in mental health crisis,” Murphy and Energy and Commerce Chairman Fred Upton said in a statement.
“For too long, families have struggled to find care for their loved ones with mental illness, and this legislation will begin to deliver the needed reforms,” they said. “Our work continues next week, and we look forward to a big vote followed by consideration by the full House.”
