Comprehensive Mental Health Reform Legislation Poised to Move Forward in the House: APA Encourages Passage

Jun 14, 2016

ARLINGTON, Va. – Today, on the eve of a critical vote, the American Psychiatric Association encourages members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee to pass the bipartisan mental health reform legislation. The committee is scheduled to consider the landmark legislation, H.R. 2646, Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act, on Wednesday, June 15.

The Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act was introduced by Rep. Tim Murphy (R-Pa.) with Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas) in June 2015 and now has 191 cosponsors. The House Subcommittee on Health passed the legislation last November.

“This legislation will bring much-needed improvements to the nation’s mental health system – and better access to quality care for people with mental illness, including substance use disorders,” said APA President Maria A. Oquendo, M.D. “It will help improve research and treatment for people with mental illness, strengthen enforcement of the mental health parity law, enhance the psychiatric workforce and better coordinate federal resources. We look forward to the committee vote and consideration by the full House.”

Mental illness is common and treatable: one in five people lives with a diagnosable mental health or substance use disorder, and some 13 million Americans live with a severe psychiatric disorder. While there has been much progress, many people do not receive needed care.

Text of the legislation and information on the markup are available from the Energy and Commerce Committee.

In the Senate, bipartisan mental health reform legislation, the Mental Health Reform Act of 2016 (S.2680), was introduced earlier this year by U.S. Sens. Lamar Alexander (R-Tn.), Patty Murray (D-Wa.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and Bill Cassidy, M.D., (R-La.), and passed by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee in April. The APA supports this legislation and its consideration by the full Senate.

“We have to congratulate Representatives Murphy, Johnson, (Fred) Upton (R-Mich., chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee) and (Frank) Pallone, (D-N.J., ranking member) for their commitment to improving the lives of people with mental and substance use disorders and bringing the need for comprehensive mental health reform to the nation’s attention,” said APA CEO and Medical Director, Saul Levin, M.D., M.P.A.

The American Psychiatric Association is a national medical specialty society whose 36,500 physician members specialize in the diagnosis, treatment, prevention and research of mental illnesses, including substance use disorders.

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