clinical social work association

The Improving Access to Mental Health Act (S.870), which CSWA has been supporting since 2012, has provisionally been included in the omnibus mental health legislation package being developed by the Senate Finance Committee.  The request from the Committee is that we find more Republican cosponsors for the bill.  This needs to happen by Friday, May 20, 2022 COB.

To review the high points of this bill, they are:

• Increase reimbursement rates for clinical social workers from 75% to 85% of the psychotherapy rates for other mental health clinicians in the Physicians Fee Schedule;
• Allow LCSWs to be reimbursed independently for providing psychotherapy in Skilled Nursing Facilities; and
• Allow LCSWs to use Health and Behavior Assessment and Intervention (HBAI) codes to be reimbursed for mental health disorders in the context of medical conditions

The Committee members/Legislative aides that are most important to this effort are:

Sen. Mike Crapo (R-ID): Rebecca Alcorn, Senior Policy Advisor, rebecca_alcorn@crapo.senate.gov

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA): Nic Pottebaum, Health Policy Advisor, nic_pottebaum@grassley.senate.gov

Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX): Alaura Ervin, Legislative Assistant, alaura_ervin@cornyn.senate.gov

Sen. John Thune (R-SD): Danielle Janowski, Health Policy Director, danielle_janowski@thune.senate.gov

Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC): Angela Wiles, Health Policy Director (HELP Committee), angela_wiles@help.senate.gov

Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH): Jack Boyd, Health LC, jack_boyd@portman.senate.gov

Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA): Mike Weiss, Health LA, mike_weiss@toomey.senate.gov

Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC): Brianna Wood, Legislative Correspondent, brianna_wood@scott.senate.gov

Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA): Mary Moody, Health Policy Advisor, mary_moody@cassidy.senate.gov

Sen. James Lankford (R-OK): Cambridge Neal, Legislative Assistant, cambridge_neal@lankford.senate.gov

Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT): Rachel Green, Health Policy Advisor, rachel_green@daines.senate.gov

Sen. Todd Young (R-IN): Beth Nelson, Health Policy Director, beth_nelson@young.senate.gov

Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE): Shannon Hossinger, Policy Advisor, shannon_hossinger@sasse.senate.gov

Sending the following message to the LAs is a good way to make contact with the senators. You can send your message even if you are not a constituent.

The suggested message is as follows (feel free to use your own language):

“I am [a constituent and] a member of the Clinical Social Work Association. Please consider becoming a cosponsor for S.870 which will provide greater access to mental health and substance use treatment, desperately needed in these difficult times. S. 870 will increase the number of LCSWs who become Medicare providers. Thank you for your consideration.”

As always, please let me know when you have sent your messages.

Laura Groshong. LICSW, Director, Policy and Practice  
Clinical Social Work Association  
lwgroshong@clinicalsocialworkassociation.org