Public Policy Update: June 10, 2010
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June 10, 2010
After an outpouring of support from human service providers around the country, the Senate version of H.R. 4213 will restore a 6-month extension of the enhanced Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP) rates that was removed from the House version passed last month. But the fight isn’t over yet. Now, we need 60 votes in the Senate to pass H.R. 4213. Although the Senate has once before voted to approve the extension, some Senators are growing worried that a vote on increased federal spending will hurt them in their states. Without your vocal support for the FMAP extension, they could reverse their votes.
The National Council on Wednesday issued an action alert in support of the FMAP extension. Click here to access the action alert and contact your Senators today!
The National Council would like to thank those of you who responded to last week’s action alert urging your Senators to reinstate federal Medicaid aid into H.R. 4213. Together, you sent nearly 3,000 messages to the Senate! The fact that the FMAP extension was restored in the Senate version is a testament to your hard work and advocacy. Keep up the fight – contact your Senators again today, and urge them to vote for the manager’s amendment to H.R. 4213!
Meanwhile, the National Council is joining key Medicaid safety net providers in fighting for the FMAP extension. Most recently, we signed on to a letter to the House and Senate leadership in support of the FMAP extension. We have also signed on to a print advertisement that ran this week in the popular Congressional newspaper The Hill.
Does Your Agency Need Funding for HIT? Press Congress for Behavioral Health IT Funding at Hill Day 2010!
In 2009, Congress established a system of incentive payments to encourage the adoption of health information technology. This new program makes $19 billion available to certain providers and health facilities for implementing HIT – but community behavioral health organizations and many types of behavioral health providers were left out of the legislation.
Join us at Hill Day 2010, and urge Congress to fix this inequity!
Join hundreds of your colleagues from around the country in requesting that your Members of Congress sign on to legislation that would extend federal HIT incentive payments to previously ineligible behavioral health providers. We will be advocating for H.R. 5040, the Health Information Technology Extension for Behavioral Health Services Act (and a companion Senate bill). H.R. 5040 would:
- Expand the list of eligible professionals to include clinical psychologists and clinical social workers;
- Allow mental health and substance abuse treatment facilities that have at least 10% their patient volume attributable to Medicaid recipients to receive increased facility payments; and
- Allow private psychiatric hospitals that have at least 10% their patient volume attributable to Medicaid recipients to receive these payments.
In addition, you’ll have the opportunity to attend a briefing sponsored by the Congressional Mental Health Caucus on the importance of funding behavioral health IT initiatives. Stay tuned to the Hill Day website for more details as they become available!
The National Council has released several resources for advocates on behavioral health IT issues. To get ready for Hill Day, check out our FAQs and our document outlining the consequences of failing to include behavioral health providers in HIT initiatives. We’ll also be sending around a fact sheet on H.R. 5040 as the date gets closer.
CMS recently issued a brochure to Medicare beneficiaries outlining the details of a provision of healthcare reform designed to provide relief to seniors in the prescription drug coverage gap, or “donut hole.” Beginning in mid-June, seniors who have reached the coverage gap will receive a one-time, tax-free rebate of $250. Additional checks will be mailed every six weeks thereafter as additional beneficiaries reach the donut hole. Altogether, CMS expects that 4 million beneficiaries will receive a check in 2010. As part of healthcare reform, the donut hole will be eliminated entirely by 2020. For more details, see http://www.medicare.gov/Publications/Pubs/pdf/11464.pdf.
Beginning in June 2010, the Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS) at SAMHSA will be conducting the 2010 National Mental Health Services Survey (N-MHSS). Previously conducted in 2008 as the National Survey of Mental Health Treatment Facilities (NSMHTF), the N-MHSS will collect statistical information to provide a current picture of mental health treatment utilization throughout the nation so that the mental health provider community and decision-makers have the latest data available for planning and allocating needed resources. Your participation is important to the success of this nationwide survey, and will help ensure that mental health treatment availability in your area is accurately represented. The information collected will also be used to update the Mental Health Facility Locator, which can be found on SAMHSA’s online Mental Health Services Locator. The National Council supports this valuable data collection effort, and when your facility is contacted, we strongly encourage your participation. For more information about the N-MHSS, please visit http://info.nmhss.org.
