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Senate Bill 870
117th Congress(2021-2022)
Improving Access to Mental Health Act of 2021
Introduced
Introduced
Introduced in Senate on Mar 18, 2021
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Text
Introduced in Senate 
Mar 18, 2021
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Introduced in Senate(Mar 18, 2021)
Mar 18, 2021
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Multiple bills can contain the same text. This could be an identical bill in the opposite chamber or a smaller bill with a section embedded in a larger bill.
Bill Sponsor regularly scans bill texts to find sections that are contained in other bill texts. When a matching section is found, the bills containing that section can be viewed by clicking "View Bills" within the bill text section.
Bill Sponsor is currently only finding exact word-for-word section matches. In a future release, partial matches will be included.
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S. 870 (Introduced-in-Senate)


117th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 870


To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to improve access to mental health services under the Medicare program.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

March 18, 2021

Ms. Stabenow (for herself, Mr. Barrasso, and Ms. Sinema) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance

A BILL

To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to improve access to mental health services under the Medicare program.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. Short title.

This Act may be cited as the “Improving Access to Mental Health Act of 2021”.

SEC. 2. Improved access to mental health services under the Medicare program.

(a) Access to clinical social workers.—Section 1833(a)(1)(F)(ii) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395l(a)(1)(F)(ii)) is amended by striking “75 percent of the amount determined for payment of a psychologist under clause (L)” and inserting “85 percent of the fee schedule amount provided under section 1848”.

(b) Access to clinical social worker services provided to residents of skilled nursing facilities.—

(1) IN GENERAL.—Section 1888(e)(2)(A)(ii) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395yy(e)(2)(A)(ii)) is amended by inserting “clinical social worker services,” after “qualified psychologist services,”.

(2) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 1861(hh)(2) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395x(hh)(2)) is amended by striking “and other than services furnished to an inpatient of a skilled nursing facility which the facility is required to provide as a requirement for participation”.

(c) Access to the complete set of clinical social worker services.—Section 1861(hh)(2) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395x(hh)(2)) is further amended by striking “for the diagnosis and treatment of mental illnesses (other than services” and inserting “(including services for the diagnosis and treatment of mental illnesses or services for health and behavior assessment and intervention (identified as of January 1, 2021, by HCPCS codes 96150 through 96161 (and any succeeding codes)), but not including services”.

(d) Effective date.—The amendments made by this section shall apply to items and services furnished on or after January 1, 2022.