THE ISSUE
Access to mental and behavioral health services is fundamental to overall health. The MMS supports expanding access and coverage to these services, including but not limited to advocating for stronger enforcement tools, standards to promote parity between
mental and physical health, and ensuring patients can access the highest attainable standard of care. The MMS supports efforts to curtail our state’s emergency department boarding crisis by mandating insurance coverage for an annual mental health
wellness examination and eliminating prior authorization requirements for patients in need of acute mental health treatment.
OUR STANCE
The MMS advocates for patients to ensure that they have ready access to appropriate mental and behavioral health care. This includes encouraging primary care physicians to perform mental health and substance use preventive care during visits for adolescents
and adults; advocating for counselors within the school system and the community; and implementing accessibility and destigmatization as strategies within colleges and universities.
The MMS also advocates for the elimination of obstacles to payment of services; standardized and timely communication between mental health, primary care, and all referring clinicians, which includes at least diagnoses, treatment plan, medication plan,
and specific follow-up instructions; and guidelines for acute psychiatric follow-up care.
OUR ADVOCACY
On the state level, the MMS advocated for the passage of the Mental Health ABC Act (Chapter 177 of the Acts of 2022), comprehensive legislation to boost access to mental health services in Massachusetts. The final package puts in place sweeping provisions
to improve access to inpatient and outpatient care, reduce emergency department boarding, expand insurance coverage, increase enforcement of state and federal parity laws, enhance community and school-based services, and support workforce development
initiatives.
The MMS participated in and commented during a listening session series facilitated by the Division of Insurance relative to the implementation of the Mental Health ABC Act (Chapter 177 of the Acts of 2022). As a continuation of that work, the MMS helped
develop the components of the second-in-the-nation Mental Health Wellness Examination and has also been successful in advocating for streamlined billing and coding across payers. The MMS will communicate widely and broadly about this new coverage
so that patients are seen and services are rendered.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Integrating Mental Health and Substance Use Care in Your Practice Models, Challenges, and Recommendations.
This report highlights the current state of the mental health crisis in Massachusetts, describes real-world models of integrated care in the state, delineates barriers to behavioral health and substance use integration, and offers recommendations
for a future of integrated mental health and substance use care in the Commonwealth.
