Increasing Access to Mental Health Act of 2019

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 5411 To direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish a Task Force on Local Mental Health Needs, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES DECEMBER 12, 2019 Mr. HARDER of California introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce A BILL To direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish a Task Force on Local Mental Health Needs, and for other purposes. 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 ‘‘Increasing Access to 4 Mental Health Act of 2019’’. 5 SEC. 2. TASK FORCE ON LOCAL MENTAL HEALTH NEEDS. 6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 6 months after the 7 date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Health and 8 Human Services shall establish a task force, to be known 9 as the Task Force on Local Mental Health Needs— 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:53 Dec 18, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5411.IH H5411 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 5411 IH (1) to analyze whether, notwithstanding section 1 1115, section 1903(m)(7), paragraphs (14) and (16) 2 of section 1905(a), and section 1915(l) of the Social 3 Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1315, 1396b(m)(7), 4 1396d(a), 1396n), the prohibition on Federal finan- 5 cial participation under the Medicaid program under 6 title XIX of such Act (42 U.S.C. 1396 et seq.) for 7 items and services provided in a hospital, nursing fa- 8 cility, or other institution of more than 16 beds, that 9 is primarily engaged in providing services described 10 in section 1905(i) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 1396d(i)) 11 for persons with mental diseases, precludes political 12 subdivisions of some States from meeting the mental 13 health care needs of individuals residing in such po- 14 litical subdivision; 15 (2) in the case of a political subdivision so pre- 16 cluded, to develop possible solutions for addressing 17 such mental health needs; and 18 (3) to identify best and sustainable practices 19 described in paragraphs (3) through (7) of sub- 20 section (c). 21 (b) MEMBERSHIP.—The members of the Task Force 22 task shall consist of the following: 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:53 Dec 18, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5411.IH H5411 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 5411 IH (1) The Secretary of Health and Human Serv- 1 ices (or the Secretary’s designee), who shall serve as 2 the Chair of the Task Force. 3 (2) The Attorney General of the United States 4 (or the Attorney General’s designee). 5 (3) The Secretary of Labor (or the Secretary’s 6 designee). 7 (4) The Secretary of Veterans Affairs (or the 8 Secretary’s designee). 9 (5) The Director of the Office of National Drug 10 Control Policy (or the Director’s designee). 11 (6) The heads of such other Federal agencies 12 and offices as may be appointed by the Secretary of 13 Health and Human Services (or their designees). 14 (7) The directors of State or county agencies or 15 offices of behavioral health services as may be ap- 16 pointed by the Secretary of Health and Human 17 Services (or their designees). 18 (c) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the date 19 of the initial meeting of the Task Force, the Secretary 20 of Health and Human Services shall submit to Congress 21 and make publicly available a final report of the Task 22 Force that— 23 (1) determines whether the prohibition de- 24 scribed in subsection (a)(1) precludes political sub- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:53 Dec 18, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5411.IH H5411 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 5411 IH divisions of some States from meeting the mental 1 health care needs of individuals residing in such po- 2 litical subdivision; 3 (2) in the case of a political subdivision so pre- 4 cluded, recommends possible solutions for addressing 5 such mental health needs, including a recommended 6 bed capacity number; 7 (3) identifies best practices for compliance with 8 the recommendations developed by the Task Force; 9 (4) identifies sustainable practices for helping 10 to provide services to transition individuals from 11 mental health services to sustainable recovery serv- 12 ices, including identifying workforce and housing op- 13 portunities; 14 (5) identifies best practices to coordinate men- 15 tal health service providers and public service agen- 16 cies with local law enforcement agencies to address 17 issues like homelessness; 18 (6) identifies best practices that are used by 19 mental health service providers to handle patient dis- 20 charge planning, including linkage with community 21 services and support; 22 (7) identifies best practices that advance parity 23 in mental health and substance use disorder treat- 24 ment; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:53 Dec 18, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5411.IH H5411 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 5411 IH (8) provides an analysis for alternatives to a 1 bed capacity number, such as a time limit for Fed- 2 eral reimbursement for facilities or a time limit for 3 patient stays in treatment. 4 (d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 5 (1) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means any of 6 the 50 States. 7 (2) TASK FORCE.—The term ‘‘Task Force’’ 8 means the Task Force on Local Mental Health 9 Needs established pursuant to this section. 10 SEC. 3. MODERN MENTAL HEALTH FUND GRANT PROGRAM. 11 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall award grants 12 to 10 eligible entities to coordinate mental health care 13 services with qualified community entities described in 14 subsection (d). 15 (b) ELIGIBILITY.—To seek a grant under this sec- 16 tion, an entity shall— 17 (1) be— 18 (A) a psychiatric health facility; or 19 (B) an institution for mental disease; and 20 (2) submit an application to the Secretary at 21 such time, in such manner, and containing such in- 22 formation as the Secretary may require. 23 (c) GEOGRAPHIC DIVERSITY.—In awarding grants 24 under this section, the Secretary of Health and Human 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:29 Dec 21, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5411.IH H5411 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •HR 5411 IH Services shall ensure there is geographic diversity across 1 the grantees. 2 (d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 3 (1) The term ‘‘institution for mental diseases’’ 4 has the meaning given to that term in section 5 1905(i) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 6 1396d(i)). 7 (2) The term ‘‘qualified community entity’’ 8 means an entity that meets at least one of the fol- 9 lowing: 10 (A) The entity can ensure that case man- 11 agement provided by the entity working with a 12 grantee under this section does not exceed a 13 ratio of 1 caseworker to 20 cases. 14 (B) The entity demonstrates the capacity 15 to provide services to address mental health, 16 substance use disorders and recovery services, 17 disabling or other chronic health conditions, 18 educational and job training or employment 19 outcomes, and life skills needs (including finan- 20 cial literacy). 21 (C) The entity can ensure stable housing, 22 intensive case management, and comprehensive 23 services that include, at minimum, mental 24 health services, substance use disorder treat- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:53 Dec 18, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5411.IH H5411 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •HR 5411 IH ment and recovery services, education and job 1 training, age-appropriate services for children, 2 and life skills training (such as financial lit- 3 eracy training). 4 (D) The entity can coordinate with local 5 law enforcement, courts (including specialized 6 courts), probation, and other public services 7 agencies to conduct outreach and better identify 8 at-risk or homeless populations that would ben- 9 efit from services offered by the entity. 10 (E) The entity can coordinate with a con- 11 gressionally chartered veterans service organiza- 12 tion, a State, local, or Tribal veterans service 13 agency, or a nonprofit organization that has 14 historically served veterans’ housing needs. 15 (e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—To carry 16 out this section, there is authorized to be appropriated 17 $50,000,000 for fiscal year 2021 and each subsequent fis- 18 cal year. 19 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:53 Dec 18, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H5411.IH H5411 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS