HHS will make permanent the flexibility for prescribing buprenorphine through telehealth implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Lawmakers are looking to reauthorize a bill that would offer behavioral health services to healthcare workers.

Four senators have introduced a bipartisan bill that would remove barriers to accessing telemedicine services for behavioral healthcare for Medicare beneficiaries.

CMS will introduce a new model designed to integrate behavioral and physical healthcare with health-related social needs in Medicare and Medicaid. 

North Carolina will implement a new statewide Medicaid plan in 2024 designed to integrate behavioral and physical health services for children. 

Two representatives have partnered on a bipartisan bill that would allow inpatient psychiatric hospitals to apply for mortgage assistance.

CMS approved New York state's request for a sweeping Medicaid waiver Jan. 9, which will put $7.5 billion over three years to the state's healthcare system. 

Lawmakers are considering allowing Medicaid to pay for addiction treatment in larger inpatient facilities, Politico reported Jan. 1. 

Medicare Advantage plans will be required to comply with new behavioral health network adequacy and wait time standards in 2024. 

More behavioral health providers will be eligible for Medicare payments in 2024, and many states will increase Medicaid reimbursements for behavioral providers. 

Ten people were charged in an alleged scheme to transport patients from unlicensed sober living and transitional homes to a fake behavioral health facility in exchange for payments. 

Medicare payment policies taking effect in 2024 will make around 250,000 more behavioral health providers available to older adults, according to an analysis from the Milken Institute School of Public Health at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. 

Eighty-six percent of Americans want their elected officials in Congress to take more steps to address the country's mental health crisis, according to a recent survey from the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

A majority of states increased Medicaid rates for some types of behavioral health providers in 2023 or are planning increases in 2024, according to KFF's survey of state Medicaid directors. 

Here are six federal regulations on behavioral health that Becker's has reported on since Oct. 20:

A Michigan bill is looking to require insurance companies to cover mental health and substance use care treatment, according to a Nov. 13 report from the Detroit Free Press.

The Senate Finance Committee voted Nov. 8 to advance a healthcare package that includes changes intended to improve behavioral health access. 

CMS is proposing adding new requirements for Medicare Advantage plans to have adequate networks of outpatient behavioral health centers. 

The city of Tuscaloosa, Ala., is moving forward on the development of a mental health court, thanks to funding from the Justice Department, FOX affiliate WBRC reported Nov. 6.

CMS will allow more types of behavioral health providers to bill Medicare in 2024, and establish payment for intensive outpatient behavioral healthcare.