Cramer: Mental Health Bill Strengthens Services To Individuals And Their Families

Press Release

Congressman Kevin Cramer was among the members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee unanimously passing H.R. 2646, The Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act of 2015, today. Cramer is a co-sponsor of the bill.

The purpose of the bill is to reform the nation's mental health system, providing greater availability to psychiatric, psychological and supportive services for individuals with mental illness and families in mental health crisis.

The bipartisan legislation was introduced by Congressman Tim Murphy (R-PA), a clinical psychologist, and Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX), a psychiatric nurse. The bill is revenue-neutral and includes provisions that cover:

Increased Medicaid funding for inpatient beds
A focus on evidence-based practices
More assisted outpatient treatment
Revisions to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) patient confidentiality requirements
Adding doctoral-clinicians to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration's leadership, a branch of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Cramer said he hopes this comprehensive overhaul of mental health services will receive similar strong support when brought to the entire House for consideration.

"I believe one very significant part of this bill is developing alternatives to incarceration," he said. "We need to treat mentally ill individuals with greater dignity, offer more appropriate services and better use our resources. They should not be placed in the criminal justice system or be homeless on our streets because other services are not available."

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