CFHA Supports Bills Increasing Access to Behavioral Healthcare for Mental Health and Opioid Crises

For immediate release: May 21, 2018

Rochester, NY – The Board of the Collaborative Family Healthcare Association
released the following statement today to support legislation in Congress (H.R. 5531
& S. 2613) that expands access to behavioral healthcare:

“As a national coalition of leaders in integrated care we are acutely aware of
the access-to-care crises for patients with behavioral health and opioid use
disorders. We also know that many behavioral health providers stand ready
to serve but are unable to do so due to reimbursement restrictions that are
currently part of the laws governing the Medicare program. These mental
health providers, including marriage and family therapists and master’s
degree practitioners deserve an opportunity to serve their country and its
citizens by helping to confront the access-to-care issue.

• The legislation in the House of Representatives (H.R. 5531, Sec. 6) would provide for reimbursement of services provided by these duly licensed clinicians.
• The legislation in the Senate (S. 2613) would provide for reimbursement of Licensed Clinical Social Workers to be reimbursed for providing behavioral support for medical conditions, typically billed under ‘Health & Behavior Codes’.

We support these efforts for the general good of our people and because the future of integrated care depends on them. We cannot have a future where every medical setting provides efficient, accessible integrated care if we continue to have a dearth of qualified clinicians in those settings that are able to receive payment for those services.”

About the Collaborative Family Healthcare Association (cfha.net)

The Collaborative Family Healthcare Association is a member-driven non-profit organization dedicated to making the integration of mental and physical health the standard of care nationally. Our interdisciplinary membership of physicians, patients, clinicians, educators, nurses, behavioral health professionals, foundations, payers, advocates and researchers work to promote comprehensive and cost-effective models of healthcare delivery that integrate mind and body, individual and family, patients, providers and communities.

Media Contact: Neftali Serrano, PsyD, Executive Director, nserrano@cfha.net

Twitter: @cfha_tweet, Website: http://cfha.net