Expanding Seniors Access to Mental Health Services Act

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1797 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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119th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1797

 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

                              May 15, 2025

Mr. Barrasso (for himself and Mr. Coons) 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 ``Expanding Seniors Access to Mental 
Health Services Act''.

SEC. 2. IMPROVED ACCESS TO MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES UNDER THE MEDICARE 
              PROGRAM.

    (a) Access to Clinical Social Worker Services Provided to Residents 
of Skilled Nursing Facilities.--
            (1) Exclusion of clinical social worker services from the 
        skilled nursing facility prospective payment system.--Section 
        1888(e)(2)(A)(iii) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 
        1395yy(e)(2)(A)(iii)) is amended by adding at the end the 
        following new subclause:
                                    ``(VII) Clinical social worker 
                                services (as defined in section 
                                1861(hh)(2)).''.
            (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''.
    (b) 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)), as amended by subsection (a)(2), is amended--
            (1) 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, 2023, by HCPCS codes 96156, 96158-
        96161, 96164-96168, and 96170-96171 (and any succeeding codes)) 
        but not including services''; and
            (2) by striking ``inpatient of a hospital)'' and inserting 
        ``inpatient of a hospital,''.
    (c) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall 
apply to items and services furnished on or after January 1, 2026.
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