Page 4 - Healthcare News July/August 2022

The ABCs of Access
What’s in Massachusetts’ New, Wide-ranging Mental-health Law?
RBy JOSEPH BEDNAR
ene Pinero says the state’s recent action on mental-health access — in the form of a sprawling, multi-faceted bill dubbed the
Mental Health ABC Act — couldn’t have come too soon.
“Unequal access to community-based services
for people experiencing a mental-health crisis, long waits in emergency departments before an inpatient psychiatric bed is located, better enforcement of mental-health parity laws, and equitable payment to providers of mental healthcare have been ongoing issues in the Commonwealth,” said Pinero, vice presi- dent of Behavioral Health and Clinical Operations at the Mental Health Assoc. (MHA).
The ABC in the bill’s title stands for Addressing Barriers to Care, and Pinero said the act’s passage by both houses of the Legislature on Aug. 1 — and ap- proval by Gov. Charlie Baker, who signed it into law on Aug. 10 — represents “a big step toward breaking down such barriers and creating an integrated path- way that starts at the top to good mental healthcare and emotional wellness for all.”
Lawmakers who promoted the Mental Health ABC Act said it was driven by the recognition that mental health is as important as physical health and should be treated as such. The final conference report pro- posed a wide variety of reforms to ensure equitable access to mental healthcare and remove barriers to care by supporting the behavioral-health workforce.
“The healthcare system in Massachusetts is only
as strong as its weakest link, and for far too long, mental healthcare has been overlooked and under- funded,” said state Sen. Cindy Friedman, Senate chair of the Joint Committee on Health Care Financing. “This legislation confronts this reality with the most comprehensive mental healthcare legislation the Commonwealth has seen in recent years, and it builds off of the historic investments we made in this care system over this past two-year legislative session.
Of particular importance to me, this bill will finally
high quality, and accessible care to its residents, and this includes mental health care.”
State Sen. Adam Gomez, who represents the Hampden District, noted that “mental-health issues touch every single family in our Commonwealth. For many, especially those in the BIPOC community, there can be shame or fear associated with seeking
A Comprehensive Approach
Pinero called attention to several of the most prominent planks in the legislation:
• It calls for insurances to cover a mental-health wellness examination, defines various levels of care available (or being made available) in the Common-
wealth for mental health, and addresses the issue of prior authorization for acute mental health care.
• It directs those under contract to a Medicaid- managed care organization or primary-care clinician plan, as well as others similarly insured, to cover
the cost of medically necessary mental-health acute treatment, community-based acute treatment, and intensive community-based acute treatment. It says the individual involved “shall not require a preau- thorization before obtaining treatment, provided, however, that the facility shall notify the carrier of the admission and the initial treatment plan within 72 hours of admission.”
• The act is comprehensive in its approach to providing access to mental- and behavioral-health services across all populations, from students to first responders to veterans, and oversight at every level
to evaluate how effective and well this approach is being implemented and if culturally competent care is being delivered. Its reach is broad, from addressing the needs of prisoners to eliminating stigma around seeking behavioral-health treatment to specifics of
“Unequal access to community-based
services for people experiencing a mental-
health crisis, long waits in emergency departments before an inpatient psychiatric
bed is located, better enforcement of mental-health parity laws, and equitable
payment to providers of mental healthcare
have been ongoing issues in the Commonwealth.”
provide the state the tools it needs to enforce existing mental health parity laws and it will address the emer- gency department boarding crisis that’s impacting too many of our children and their families. I have long believed that Massachusetts should deliver affordable,
RENE PINERO
help to address those issues. The legislation passed by the Senate will improve access to mental and be- havioral healthcare, removing barriers to some of the most challenging aspects of the system.”
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