§290aa–0b Interdepartmental Serious Mental Illness Coordinating Committee

Summary

The Secretary of Health and Human Services must create the Interdepartmental Serious Mental Illness Coordinating Committee. Federal Advisory Committee Act rules apply unless the law says otherwise. The committee must meet at least twice each year. It must give reports to Congress and other federal agencies one year and five years after December 29, 2022. Each report must summarize research and progress on preventing, diagnosing, treating, and recovering from serious mental illnesses and serious emotional disturbances, review how federal programs affect public health (using measures like suicide and overdose rates, illness rates, hospital and emergency department use, criminal justice involvement, homelessness, unemployment, employment and school enrollment, and quality of care), and give specific recommendations to improve how agencies coordinate services. The committee includes top federal officials or their designees (including the HHS Secretary as chair, the Assistant Secretary for Mental Health and Substance Use, the Attorney General, and leaders from VA, DOD, HUD, Education, Labor, CMS, ACL, and Social Security). It also must have at least 14 public members chosen by HHS, including people with lived experience, family members, advocates or researchers, licensed clinicians (at least two), child specialists, experts on minority and medically underserved groups, a peer support specialist, a judge, a law enforcement or corrections officer, and someone with experience serving people who are homeless. Public members serve three-year terms and may be reappointed. The committee may form working groups made of members or their designees. The committee ends on September 30, 2027.