Recapping the 117th congressional session


As the brand new 118th Congress session begins, Psychological Well being America desires to take a second to understand the key legislative victories within the final congressional session and spotlight one new coverage particularly, the X-waiver repeal.

Psychological Well being America associates and advocates participated in conferences, calls, and days of motion, sharing their tales of lived expertise with Congress and have been in a position to safe many wins, together with:

  • New Medicare protection of licensed peer specialists in built-in behavioral settings and as a part of cellular disaster interventions.
  • Authority and funding for peer help companies for veterans, birthing people, and people vulnerable to justice involvement.
  • A $150 million enhance within the Psychological Well being Block Grant, bringing its whole to over $1 billion for the primary time in its historical past.
  • A set-aside for disaster companies within the Psychological Well being Block Grant in addition to over half a billion {dollars} for the 988 Suicide and Disaster Lifeline and a new disaster coordinating heart on the Substance Abuse and Psychological Well being Providers Administration (SAMHSA).
  • Over $1 billion in funding for school-based psychological well being professionals and a pipeline to extend this workforce’s variety.
  • Tens of millions in {dollars} funding youth psychological well being consciousness and coaching for college personnel to detect and reply to psychological well being points and join school-aged youth to companies.
  • New Medicare protection of marriage and household therapists, licensed counselors, and growth of psychiatric coaching residencies.
  • Elimination of the redundant X-waiver requirement to prescribe buprenorphine for substance use issues.

X-waiver elimination

The Mainstreaming Habit Therapy (MAT) Act, which eliminates the X waiver, was launched and led by Rep. Paul Tonko (D-NY). Psychological Well being America is happy that extra people, whether or not in rural or city areas, could have an improved capacity to get therapy for opioid use dysfunction (OUD). Below Part 1262 of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, well being suppliers now not have to submit a Discover of Intent, or have a waiver, to prescribe sure medicines, like buprenorphine, for the therapy of OUD. The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and SAMHSA subsequently put out notices eliminating the extra X- waiver registration requirement, efficient instantly.

The elimination of the X-Waiver requirement implies that:

  • All prescriptions for buprenorphine for OUD now require solely a normal DEA registration quantity.
  • SAMHSA is now not accepting Notices of Intent to prescribe buprenorphine for opioid use dysfunction (i.e., X-waiver functions).
  • There are now not any limits on the variety of sufferers a prescriber might deal with for OUD with buprenorphine.
  • All practitioners should nonetheless adjust to relevant state legal guidelines and laws.

All well being care suppliers with a DEA registration that features Schedule III medicines can start to prescribe buprenorphine for OUD. Nonetheless, some state legal guidelines, equivalent to in Kentucky, require suppliers to have the X-waiver to deal with OUD with buprenorphine, often known as naloxone. Thus, advocates in states might want to conduct further training of policymakers to make sure the repeal of any legal guidelines primarily based on the X-waiver requirement to verify customers have broad entry to OUD medicines as federal lawmakers meant.

MHA continues to help the bipartisan work in Congress to deal with substance use issues (SUDs), which most frequently co-occur with psychological well being circumstances. The Well being Subcommittee just lately carried out a listening to on further problems with significance in combating the opioid disaster, together with laws that might start to ramp up surveillance of fentanyl trafficking, handle cybersecurity threats related to 988, and prohibit federal well being plans from utilizing quality- adjusted life 12 months (QALY) in cost determinations.

To be taught extra about our suggestions to federal policymakers on SUD points, go to the Partnership to Amend 42 CFR Half 2 coalition’s web site, which simply submitted feedback to the administration on a rule aligning 42 CFR Half II with HIPAA.

Whereas a lot progress was made, there may be nonetheless a lot to do within the 118 th Congress to teach and promote early intervention and prevention, a livable wage for peer specialists, and equitable entry to psychological well being and SUD companies for Black, Indigenous, and other people of shade and LGBTQ+ populations. We’re additionally working to carry know-how firms accountable for the harms of social media overuse via the Children On-line Security Act. Learn extra about our 2023 priorities and encourage a liked one to hitch our Advocacy Community to ramp up the variety of voices which can be a part of our grassroots strain on Congress and the Administration to design higher insurance policies.



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