State Senate Unveils Mental Health Care Reform Bill

HYANNIS – The Massachusetts State Senate has unveiled “An Act Addressing Barriers to Care for Mental Health” (Mental Health ABC Act) which aims to make healthcare more accessible for patients.

The Act specifically targets mental health care delivery by removing barriers between patients and the care that they need.

“In Massachusetts, we believe that mental health care is for everyone,” said Senate President Karen Spilka in a statement.

“There is no area of our economic, civic, and personal lives that is not touched by the need for mental and behavioral health and wellness, and the whole Commonwealth will be adversely affected if we do not take concrete steps to ensure that quality mental health care is available to all of our residents, and eventually integrated into our health care system as a seamless continuum of care.”

Specific changes contained within the bill include enforcing mental health parity laws, reforming medical necessity and prior authorization requirements from insurance carriers, standardizing credential forms, and creating a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner fellowship pilot program.

About Grady Culhane

Grady Culhane is a Cape Cod native from Eastham. He studied media communications at Cape Cod Community College and joined the CapeCod.com News Center in 2019.



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