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Bipartisan Legislative Group Introduces Bill to Expedite Behavioral Health IT Adoption
A bipartisan group of legislators in both chambers of Congress have introduced legislation designed to improve coordination of mental and physical healthcare by supporting behavioral healthcare providers’ efforts to adopt information technology systems.
The Behavioral Health Information Technology (BHIT) Coordination Act was introduced by Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nevada) and Markwayne Mullin (R-Oklahoma) and Reps. Doris Matsui (D-California) and Bill Johnson (R-Ohio). The proposed legislation would include the following provisions:
- $20 million per year in grant funding over 5 fiscal years (2025-29) to finance technology adoption through the office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC).
- A required report to Congress detailing the number and types of behavioral health providers who receive grants, their ability to electronically exchange patient health information with other providers, and clinical and non-clinical outcomes for patients.
- A directive that ONC and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) develop voluntary behavioral health IT standards.
- A directive that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), SAMHSA, and ONC jointly develop guidance on how states can use Medicaid authorities and funding sources to promote certified electronic health record (EHR) technology adoption and interoperability.
“Mental health is just as important as physical health, and it is essential that behavioral healthcare providers have the same access to the technology and EHRs that other practices utilize daily,” Cortez Masto said in a news release.
In April 2022, Matsui and Mullin introduced a similar bill that would have allocated $250 million over 3 fiscal years (2023-25) to support IT infrastructure improvements for behavioral healthcare providers.
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