Medicare Mental Health Access Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 2772 To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide for treatment of clinical psychologists as physicians for purposes of furnishing clinical psychologist services under the Medicare program. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES NOVEMBER 5, 2019 Mr. BROWN (for himself, Mrs. GILLIBRAND, and Ms. COLLINS) 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 provide for treatment of clinical psychologists as physicians for purposes of furnishing clinical psychologist services under the Medicare program. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Medicare Mental 4 Health Access Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:00 Nov 06, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2772.IS S2772 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •S 2772 IS SEC. 2. TREATMENT OF CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGISTS AS PHY- 1 SICIANS FOR PURPOSES OF FURNISHING 2 CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST SERVICES. 3 (a) IN GENERAL.—The first sentence of section 4 1861(r) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395x(r)) 5 is amended— 6 (1) by striking ‘‘or’’ before ‘‘(5)’’; and 7 (2) by inserting before the period the following: 8 ‘‘, or (6) a clinical psychologist, but only with re- 9 spect to the furnishing of qualified psychologist serv- 10 ices described in subsection (ii) for which the psy- 11 chologist is legally authorized to perform by the 12 State and who is acting within the scope of the psy- 13 chologist’s license (or other authorization under 14 State law)’’. 15 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 16 this section shall apply to items and services furnished on 17 or after January 1, 2020. 18 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:00 Nov 06, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S2772.IS S2772 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS