Five U.S. senators announced a bill to strengthen grant programming that supports addiction treatment in state prisons. The Supporting Treatment and Recovery Over Narcotics for Growth, Empowerment, and Rehabilitation (STRONGER) Act reauthorizes and improves the Residential Substance Abuse Treatment for State Prisoners (RSAT) program. It adds more funding for training the state officials who oversee […]
Lawmakers have reintroduced a bipartisan bill to make behavioral health delivered by telehealth more available to those on Medicare into Congress. Four sponsors have reintroduced the Telemental Health Care Access Act. The legislation would eliminate the in-person exam mandate to receive mental health services via telehealth. It undoes 2020 legislation that expanded telehealth access for […]
A group of federal lawmakers seeks to remove regulatory barriers that inhibit psychedelics in research and compassionate use cases. Senators Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Rand Paul (R-KY) introduced an updated version of the Breakthrough Therapies Act to the Senate. If passed, the bill would make it easier to use Schedule 1 drugs with a breakthrough […]
Federal lawmakers introduced a new bill that would loosen regulations on methadone prescribing. Legislators released the Modernizing Opioid Treatment Access Act in the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate. A bipartisan group announced the bill, saying it would be vital in expanding care for opioid use disorder (OUD). “This legislation lowers barriers to care […]
A bipartisan group of U.S. senators asked the Biden administration to tweak its proposed rule focused on addiction treatment privacy to better align with a law meant to prevent opioids from being prescribed to those in recovery. On Tuesday, the senators sent an open letter to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) […]
The $1.66 trillion omnibus funding bill touches nearly every aspect of the behavioral health industry. Advocates in the space weren’t shy about praising the bill even though it didn’t include some long-sought reforms. A quick tally of funding for the most germane items finds that the federal government is putting at least $10 billion into […]
Behavioral health reform efforts have a chance of passing during Congress’ lame-duck session. The final days of the legislative session include several must-move bills, according to experts with the law firm Polsinelli. Combined with a bipartisan interest in behavioral health reform, the environment on the Hill could be favorable to seeing key provisions clearing Congress. […]
Editor’s note, June 24, 2022: On Friday, the U.S. House of Representatives voted 234-193, with 14 Republicans joining all House Democrats, to approve the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act. Biden is expected to sign the bill into law. The new U.S. gun reform framework proposes to allocate $2.16 billion to mental health initiatives and expand certified […]
Lawmakers in the gridlocked U.S. Senate announced a framework for legislation meant to address public mass shootings in schools while also building upon the nation’s mental health foundation. Announced on Sunday, the proposed plan would enact certain gun-reform policies and pave the way for several mental health- and school safety-related efforts. Ultimately, the goal would […]
Bringing additional medication-assisted treatment (MAT) to bear on the nation’s addiction and overdose crisis appears to be top of mind for several federal leaders focused on behavioral health as well as key U.S. senators. Leaders from agencies within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services appeared before the Senate’s Health, Education, Labor and Pension […]
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