Congressional leaders unveiled a stopgap funding bill that will largely fund the federal government at present levels for a few months after Republicans assume control of a unified government. 

On Tuesday, the U.S. House Committee on Appropriations released a 1,547-page bill detailing funding provisions and regulatory tweaks that will carry federal spending through March 14, 2025. The bill also includes add-ons for emergency funding for states impacted by the hurricanes Helene and Milton and for American farmers.

The bill also contains a handful of provisions directly relevant to the behavioral health industry and a few more that are tangentially relevant.

Chief among those is the reauthorization of the Substance Use Disorder Prevention that Promotes Opioid Recovery and Treatment for Patients and Communities Act — which is better known as the SUPPORT Act. Passed in 2018, the law contains provisions that expired in 2023. Advocates previously told Behavioral Health Business that Congress was unlikely to allow those provisions to lapse, but it did.

The bill also contains several provisions impacting telehealth regulations. The bill would allow Medicare beneficiaries and providers to conduct visits via telehealth until Dec. 31, 2026. Specifically, it would further delay in-person requirements for mental health services until Jan. 1, 2027.

“The extensions in this proposed legislation are very meaningful for countless Americans and would give our healthcare providers and hospital systems some certainty and the confidence needed to continue to invest in needed telehealth services,” Kyle Zebley, senior vice president of public policy of the American Telemedicine Association and executive director of ATA Action, said in a news release.

U.S. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., said at a press conference on Tuesday that lawmakers would have 72 hours to review the bill, placing a potential vote to pass the bill on Friday of this week.

“We’re going to take care of these obligations and get this done, and then we’re going to go to work in a unified government in the 119th Congress that begins in January,” Johnson said.

What else is in the bill? 

If passed, the funding bill would also make the Requiring Enhanced and Accurate Lists of (REAL) Health Providers Act law. This would require Medicare Advantage plans to update their provider directories at least once every 90 days and indicate which listings the health plans have not been able to verify as accurate. It would also require health plans to treat services by providers that are incorrectly included in the directory, like in-network services. This would take effect for the plan year 2027, the bill states.

While limited to Medicare Advantage plans, this congressional action aims to curb what are sometimes called ghost networks or phantom networks. Many experts point to Medicare and Medicare Advantage, a privately administered version of Medicare, as leading indicators for where private health plans are going.

The funding bill also includes the Rural Broadband Protection Act of 2024. The bill tweaks how the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) awards funding to telecommunication companies seeking to establish broadband networks in rural areas. The bill’s sponsor, U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., said in September the bill is intended “to ensure taxpayer money is being used properly.” 

Telehealth proponents hail the technology as a potential solution to the shortage and inequitable distribution of behavioral health providers. However, telehealth efforts can be stymied in rural communities that lack reliable telecommunications infrastructure. Many advocates point to broadband expansion efforts as a key corollary to behavioral health-related policy reforms.

Here’s a rundown of some of the other behavioral health-related provisions in the pending funding bill:

— Banning consumer products with high concentrations of sodium nitrite, a substance that can be used in suicide attempts

— Extend mental and behavioral health education and training grants to the end of federal fiscal year 2029

— Increase the funding for the addiction treatment loan repayment program from $25 million to $40 million

— A potential reconsideration of the drug schedule classification for medications containing buprenorphine and naloxone

— ​​Extends the offering for a small, $10 million-per-year grant program for comprehensive opioid recovery centers through 2029