Financial Assistance

Federal entities that have oversight of agencies with essential workers, such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency, should include resources, funding, and guidance for mental health, emotional stress, and trauma support in Continuity of Operations Plans.[1]

Congress should expand Medicare’s Health Professional Shortage Area (HPSA) Physician Bonus Program to increase bonus payments for psychiatrists who practice in shortage areas.[1]

Congress should increase Medicare payment rates for mental health and substance use disorder (MH/SUD) integration services to help defray a portion of the startup costs that providers incur when they begin delivering care through models that integrate MH/SUD and primary care.[1]

Congress and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) should change how Medicare sets reimbursement in order to remedy the historic – and ongoing – undervaluing of primary care and mental health and substance use disorder (MH/SUD) care throughout our entire healthcare system.

The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) should create distinct categories for addiction Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSAs) that are different from mental health HPSAs.[1]

The Health Services and Resources Administration (HRSA), within the Department of Health and Human Services, should educate mental health and substance use disorder (MH/SUD) professionals about Public Service Loan Forgiveness for work in the criminal legal system.[1] Congress should expand National Health Service Corps (NHSC) eligibility to local and county corrections and a wide range of SUD treatment and recovery support professionals and make permanent the Fiscal Year (FY) 2018 NHSC expansion of eligible participating sites to include SUD treatment facilities.[1]