More Behavioral Health Providers Act of 2025
Sponsored By: Senator Gary Peters
Introduced
Summary
Expands Medicare bonus payments to more behavioral health providers in mental health shortage areas. It would create two incentive tracks that pay extra for services treating mental health and substance use disorders and aim to encourage clinicians to serve high-need locations.
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- Providers: Physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, clinical nurse specialists, clinical social workers, clinical psychologists, marriage and family therapists, and mental health counselors would become eligible for the bonuses.
- Payments: Services furnished in federally designated shortage areas would trigger monthly or quarterly bonus payments from the Medicare Part B trust fund equal to 10% for physician services and 15% for specified mental health or substance use treatment services by applicable practitioners.
- Access: By widening which clinicians can get extra pay for working in mental health professional shortage areas, the bill aims to boost the supply of behavioral health services where they are most scarce.
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Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
2 provisions identified: 2 benefits, 0 costs, 0 mixed.
Extra Medicare pay for shortage-area physicians
If enacted, this bill would add a 10% payment boost to Medicare Part B fees for physician services furnished in designated health professional shortage areas. The area must be identified by the Secretary before the year starts. The boost would not apply to mental-health or substance-use services that are eligible for the separate 15% mental-health bonus. Payments would come from the Medicare Part B (SMI) trust fund and be paid monthly or quarterly, and would be made only when the beneficiary incurs expenses for the service.
Higher Medicare pay for mental-health providers
If enacted, this bill would add a 15% payment boost to Medicare Part B fees for qualifying mental-health and substance-use treatment services. The boost would apply to services furnished on or after January 1, 2024 in areas the Secretary has identified as mental health shortage areas before the year starts. The extra payment would go to the physician or listed practitioner (for example, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, clinical social workers, clinical psychologists, marriage and family therapists, clinical nurse specialists, and mental health counselors). Payments would come from the Medicare Part B (SMI) trust fund and be paid monthly or quarterly. It would not change how a beneficiary’s out-of-pocket formula is calculated under current law.
Sponsors & CoSponsors
Sponsor
Gary Peters
MI • D
Cosponsors
Steve Daines
MT • R
Sponsored 2/24/2025
Roll Call Votes
No roll call votes available for this bill.
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