II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 683
To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to expand eligibility for
incentives under the Medicare health professional shortage area bonus
program to practitioners furnishing mental health and substance use
disorder services.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
FEBRUARY24, 2025
Mr. P
ETERS(for himself and Mr. DAINES) introduced the following bill; which
was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance
A BILL
To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to expand
eligibility for incentives under the Medicare health pro-
fessional shortage area bonus program to practitioners
furnishing mental health and substance use disorder
services.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘More Behavioral 4
Health Providers Act of 2025’’. 5
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SEC. 2. EXPANDING ELIGIBILITY FOR INCENTIVES UNDER 1
THE MEDICARE HEALTH PROFESSIONAL 2
SHORTAGE AREA BONUS PROGRAM TO PRAC-3
TITIONERS FURNISHING MENTAL HEALTH 4
AND SUBSTANCE USE DISORDER SERVICES. 5
Section 1833(m) of the Social Security Act (42 6
U.S.C. 1395l(m)) is amended— 7
(1) by striking paragraph (1) and inserting the 8
following new paragraph: 9
‘‘(1) In the case of— 10
‘‘(A) physicians’ services (other than specified 11
health services that are eligible for the additional 12
payment under subparagraph (B)) furnished in a 13
year to an individual, who is covered under the in-14
surance program established by this part and who 15
incurs expenses for such services, in an area that is 16
designated (under section 332(a)(1)(A) of the Public 17
Health Service Act) as a health professional short-18
age area as identified by the Secretary prior to the 19
beginning of such year, in addition to the amount 20
otherwise paid under this part, there also shall be 21
paid to the physician (or to an employer or facility 22
in the cases described in clause (A) of section 23
1842(b)(6)) (on a monthly or quarterly basis) from 24
the Federal Supplementary Medical Insurance Trust 25
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Fund an amount equal to 10 percent of the payment 1
amount for the service under this part; and 2
‘‘(B) specified health services (as defined in 3
paragraph (5)) furnished in a year to an individual, 4
who is covered under the insurance program estab-5
lished by this part and who incurs expenses for such 6
services, in an area that is designated (under such 7
section 332(a)(1)(A)) as a mental health profes-8
sional shortage area as identified by the Secretary 9
prior to the beginning of such year, in addition to 10
the amount otherwise paid under this part, there 11
also shall be paid to the physician or applicable 12
practitioner (as defined in paragraph (6)) (or to an 13
employer or facility in the cases described in clause 14
(A) of section 1842(b)(6)) (on a monthly or quar-15
terly basis) from such Trust Fund an amount equal 16
to 15 percent of the payment amount for the service 17
under this part.’’; 18
(2) in paragraph (2)— 19
(A) by striking ‘‘in paragraph (1)’’ and in-20
serting ‘‘in subparagraph (A) or (B) of para-21
graph (1)’’; and 22
(B) by inserting ‘‘or, in the case of speci-23
fied health services, the physician or applicable 24
practitioner’’ after ‘‘physician’’; 25
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(3) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘paragraph 1
(1)’’ each place it appears and inserting ‘‘subpara-2
graph (A) or (B) of paragraph (1)’’; 3
(4) in paragraph (4)— 4
(A) in subparagraph (B), by inserting ‘‘or 5
applicable practitioner’’ after ‘‘physician’’; and 6
(B) in subparagraph (C), by inserting ‘‘or 7
applicable practitioner’’ after ‘‘physician’’; and 8
(5) by adding at the end the following new 9
paragraphs: 10
‘‘(5) In this subsection, the term ‘specified health 11
services’ means services otherwise covered under this part 12
that are furnished on or after January 1, 2024, by a phy-13
sician or an applicable practitioner to an individual— 14
‘‘(A) for purposes of diagnosis, evaluation, or 15
treatment of a mental health disorder, as determined 16
by the Secretary; or 17
‘‘(B) with a substance use disorder diagnosis 18
for purposes of treatment of such disorder or co-oc-19
curring mental health disorder, as determined by the 20
Secretary. 21
‘‘(6) In this subsection, the term ‘applicable practi-22
tioner’ means the following: 23
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‘‘(A) A physician assistant, nurse practitioner, 1
or clinical nurse specialist (as defined in section 2
1861(aa)(5)). 3
‘‘(B) A clinical social worker (as defined in sec-4
tion 1861(hh)(1)). 5
‘‘(C) A clinical psychologist (as defined by the 6
Secretary for purposes of section 1861(ii)). 7
‘‘(D) A marriage and family therapist (as de-8
fined in section 1861(lll)(2)). 9
‘‘(E) A mental health counselor (as defined in 10
section 1861(lll)(4)).’’. 11
Æ
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