Mental Health Policy Platform

At Inseparable, we envision a world where everyone gets the mental health and substance use disorder care they need, when they need it. To achieve this, we’ve identified 24 high-impact policies, consistent with A Unified Vision for Mental Health and Substance Use Care, to spark conversation among elected officials and candidates and equip them with solutions that support the mental health of Americans.

Practical Policies to Advance Mental Health

Everyone with a mental health or substance use condition should be able to get the quality care they need.

  1. Cover all medically necessary treatment, including crisis services
  2. Ensure accurate provider directories and out-of-network care when timely in-network care is not available
  3. Cover annual mental health screenings and wellness exams
  4. Cover integrated behavioral health and primary care models
  5. Cover telemental health services and reimburse at in-person rates
  6. Expand coverage of paraprofessionals like peer support specialists

Resources

Every child should be able to get the mental health support they need to thrive.

  1. Allow Medicaid billing of school-based mental health services for all Medicaid-enrolled students
  2. Provide school-based mental health screenings
  3. Provide access to mental health services without a formal diagnosis
  4. Facilitate school mental health services, including school-linked telemental health programs
  5. Improve the ratios of school mental health professionals
  6. Require mental health education and promote skills for life success

Resources

Everyone with a mental health emergency should have someone to talk to, someone to respond, and a safe place for help.

  1. Help fund the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline and crisis services through a small telecom fee
  2. Develop youth-specific mobile response and in home stabilization services
  3. Develop mobile response teams and recovery-oriented crisis stabilization facilities
  4. Develop warmlines to provide support for people with less acute needs
  5. Ensure that crisis-related transportation does not rely on law enforcement
  6. Require data collection, analysis, and reporting throughout the crisis response system

Resources

Every community should have the mental health and substance use disorder providers it needs to ensure the right care at the right time.

  1. Create scholarships and financial incentives for people pursuing mental health careers
  2. Require competitive reimbursement rates for providers
  3. Provide alternative pathways to licensure, such as apprenticeship and credentialing programs
  4. Become a signatory of all interstate licensing compacts
  5. Create a Mental Health Workforce Education Center that recruits diverse new students into the field
  6. Support training and credentialing of specialized crisis response staff

Resources

Are you a state policymaker?

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