A California lawmaker has introduced a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives that they describe as “comprehensive legislation to help tackle our nation’s mental health crisis.” Democratic Rep. Mark DeSaulnier has reintroduced the “Mental Health Matters Act,” a bill he ran in 2022 and cleared the House on a 220-to-205 vote two years ago, […]
State Medicaid programs are federally required to cover applied behavior analysis (ABA) services for children with autism. In 2020, the state of Indiana’s fee-for-service Medicaid payments totaled $101.8 million, the second highest in the U.S. An audit completed by the Office of Inspector General (OIG) for the United States Department of Health and Human Services […]
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, […]
More allegations about Acadia Healthcare (Nasdaq: ACHC) have surfaced in the press, this time reporting sexual assault at one of the company’s behavioral health hospitals. A male patient at Acadia-owned Options Behavioral Health Hospital raped another patient with severe mental illness, according to reporting by Mirror Indy. A nurse had reported to higher-ups that the […]
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has prioritized equitable behavioral health care access, proposing a new rule to cap behavioral health costs for Medicare Advantage members. The proposed rule, scheduled to be published on Dec. 10, would require that Medicare Advantage in-network cost-sharing for mental health and substance use disorder (SUD) care not exceed […]
The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has once again bought itself more time to figure out virtual telehealth prescribing. Earlier this month, the agency announced that it would extend the flexibilities, which allowed providers to virtually prescribe controlled substances, including medication-assisted treatment (MAT) for substance use disorders (SUDs), as well as Adderall for ADHD. The flexibilities […]
With a second Donald Trump presidency on the horizon, behavioral health providers are beginning to examine what that could mean for the industry. The good news is that while the political landscape in the United States is sharply divided, measures to advance behavioral health forward remain a unifying issue. However, I think it’s safe to […]
The entanglement of politics and regulation requires behavioral health providers to bolster advocacy efforts more than ever. At the state and federal level, the industry faces a potent mix of increased scrutiny on health care dealmaking — especially the involvement of private equity investment — and historic public underinvestment. These forces pose potential threats to […]
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has extended telehealth flexibilities, which allow for the prescribing of controlled substances without an in-person visit, through 2025. The flexibilities were first put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic, and allow clinicians to prescribe several behavioral health medications virtually, including medication-assisted treatment (MAT) for opioid use disorder and adderall […]
Digital mental health startup Cerebral has reached a nonprosecution agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York. The agreement resolves the investigation of Cerebral’s policies and practices for controlled substance prescribing, specifically stimulants for ADHD. The company now faces fines totaling $6.57 million, according to a copy of the nonprosecution […]
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