Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress Senate Bill SB1056 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	II
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION S. 1056
5	5	To establish a home-based telemental health care grant program for purposes
6	6	of increasing mental health and substance use services in rural medically
7	7	underserved populations and for individuals in farming, fishing, and
8	8	forestry occupations.
9	9	IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
10	10	MARCH13, 2025
11	11	Mr. R
12	12	OUNDS(for himself and Ms. SMITH) introduced the following bill; which
13	13	was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education,
14	14	Labor, and Pensions
15	15	A BILL
16	16	To establish a home-based telemental health care grant pro-
17	17	gram for purposes of increasing mental health and sub-
18	18	stance use services in rural medically underserved popu-
19	19	lations and for individuals in farming, fishing, and for-
20	20	estry occupations.
21	21	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
22	22	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
23	23	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
24	24	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Home-Based Tele-4
25	25	mental Health Care Act of 2025’’. 5
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28	28	•S 1056 IS
29	29	SEC. 2. MENTAL HEALTH AND SUBSTANCE USE SERVICES 1
30	30	DELIVERED TO RURAL UNDERSERVED POPU-2
31	31	LATIONS VIA TELEMENTAL HEALTH CARE. 3
32	32	Title III of the Public Health Service Act is amended 4
33	33	by inserting after section 330K (42 U.S.C. 254c–16) the 5
34	34	following: 6
35	35	‘‘SEC. 330K–1. MENTAL HEALTH AND SUBSTANCE USE SERV-7
36	36	ICES DELIVERED TO RURAL UNDERSERVED 8
37	37	POPULATIONS VIA TELEMENTAL HEALTH 9
38	38	CARE. 10
39	39	‘‘(a) D
40	40	EFINITIONS.—In this section— 11
41	41	‘‘(1) the term ‘covered populations’ means— 12
42	42	‘‘(A) health professional shortage areas (as 13
43	43	defined in section 332(a)(1)) in rural areas; or 14
44	44	‘‘(B) populations engaged in a farming, 15
45	45	fishing, or forestry industry; 16
46	46	‘‘(2) the term ‘eligible entity’ means a public or 17
47	47	nonprofit private telemental health provider network 18
48	48	that offers services that include mental health and 19
49	49	substance use services provided by professionals 20
50	50	trained in mental health and substance use; 21
51	51	‘‘(3) the term ‘farming, fishing, or forestry in-22
52	52	dustry’ means an occupation defined as a farming, 23
53	53	fishing, or forestry occupation by the Department of 24
54	54	Labor in accordance with the Standard Occupational 25
55	55	Classification System; 26
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58	58	•S 1056 IS
59	59	‘‘(4) the term ‘home-based telemental’ means 1
60	60	the use of telemental health services where the pa-2
61	61	tient is in his or her own home or other place of 3
62	62	comfort; 4
63	63	‘‘(5) the term ‘professional trained in mental 5
64	64	health’ means a psychiatrist, a qualified mental 6
65	65	health professional (as defined in section 330K), or 7
66	66	another mental health professional acting under the 8
67	67	direction of a psychiatrist; 9
68	68	‘‘(6) the term ‘rural’ has the meaning given 10
69	69	such term by the Office of Rural Health Policy of 11
70	70	the Health Resources and Services Administration; 12
71	71	and 13
72	72	‘‘(7) the term ‘telemental health’ means the use 14
73	73	of electronic information and telecommunications 15
74	74	technologies to support long distance clinical health 16
75	75	care, patient and professional health-related edu-17
76	76	cation, public health, and health administration. 18
77	77	‘‘(b) P
78	78	ROGRAMAUTHORIZED.—The Secretary, in 19
79	79	consultation with the Rural Health Liaison of the Depart-20
80	80	ment of Agriculture, shall award grants to eligible entities 21
81	81	to expand and enhance access to mental health and sub-22
82	82	stance use services for covered populations in their homes 23
83	83	or other places of comfort, as delivered remotely by profes-24
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86	86	•S 1056 IS
87	87	sionals trained in mental health and substance use using 1
88	88	telemental health care. 2
89	89	‘‘(c) U
90	90	SE OFFUNDS.—Recipients of a grant under 3
91	91	this section shall use the grant funds to— 4
92	92	‘‘(1) deliver home-based telemental health serv-5
93	93	ices to covered populations; 6
94	94	‘‘(2) develop comprehensive metrics to measure 7
95	95	the quality and impact of home-based telemental 8
96	96	health services compared to traditional in-person 9
97	97	mental health and substance use care; and 10
98	98	‘‘(3) support infrastructure that enhances the 11
99	99	capacity of health care providers to deliver tele-12
100	100	mental health services in patients’ homes or other 13
101	101	places of comfort, including by— 14
102	102	‘‘(A) expanding broadband access; 15
103	103	‘‘(B) providing devices for patients to ac-16
104	104	cess telemental health services; and 17
105	105	‘‘(C) offsetting costs of technology nec-18
106	106	essary for health care providers to deliver high 19
107	107	quality care. 20
108	108	‘‘(d) R
109	109	EPORT.—The Secretary, in consultation with 21
110	110	the Secretary of Agriculture, not later than 3 years after 22
111	111	the date on which the program under this section com-23
112	112	mences, and 2 years thereafter, shall submit to the appro-24
113	113	priate congressional committees reports on the impact and 25
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116	116	•S 1056 IS
117	117	quality of care of home-based telemental health care serv-1
118	118	ices for covered populations. 2
119	119	‘‘(e) A
120	120	UTHORIZEDUSE OFFUNDS.—Out of any 3
121	121	amounts made available to the Secretary, up to 4
122	122	$10,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2025 through 2029 5
123	123	may be allocated to carrying out the program under this 6
124	124	section.’’. 7
125	125	Æ
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