I 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 9138 

To expand psychological mental and behavioral health services to Medicare, 

Medicaid, and CHIP beneficiaries by permitting reimbursement of psychological services provided by certain supervised psychology trainees, 

and facilitating the reimbursement of those services. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 25, 2024 

Mr. BALDERSON (for himself, Ms. KUSTER, Mrs. MILLER of West Virginia, 

and Ms. DELBENE) introduced the following bill; which was referred to 

the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently determined 

by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall 

within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To expand psychological mental and behavioral health services to Medicare, Medicaid, and CHIP beneficiaries by 

permitting reimbursement of psychological services provided by certain supervised psychology trainees, and facilitating the reimbursement of those services. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Accelerating the Devel3 opment of Advanced Psychology Trainees Act’’ or the 

4 ‘‘ADAPT Act’’. 

5 SEC. 2. COVERAGE AND CODING FOR QUALIFIED PSYCHOL6 OGIST SERVICES FURNISHED BY ADVANCED 

7 PSYCHOLOGY TRAINEES UNDER THE MEDI8 CARE PROGRAM. 

9 (a) COVERAGE.— 

10 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 1861(ii) of the So11 cial Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395x(ii)) is amend12 ed— 

13 (A) by inserting ‘‘(1)’’ after ‘‘(ii)’’; 

14 (B) in paragraph (1), as added by para15 graph (1) of this section, by inserting ‘‘(or fur16 nished by an advanced psychology trainee under 

17 the general supervision of a clinical psychologist 

18 (as so defined) and billed by the supervising 

19 psychologist)’’ after ‘‘(as defined by the Sec20 retary)’’; and 

21 (C) by adding at the end the following new 

22 paragraph: 

23 ‘‘(2) In this subsection: 

24 ‘‘(A) The term ‘advanced psychology trainee’ 

25 means— 


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1 ‘‘(i) a doctoral intern who is completing a 

2 required period of supervised experiential train3 ing through a program accredited by the Amer4 ican Psychological Association, not less than 

5 one year in duration, before being awarded a 

6 doctoral degree; or 

7 ‘‘(ii) a postdoctoral resident who has ob8 tained a doctoral degree in psychology, is seek9 ing a license to practice psychology, and is en10 gaged in a 1- or 2-year period of additional su11 pervised experiential training to acquire the 

12 skills or hours required for licensure through a 

13 program accredited by the American Psycho14 logical Association or a member of the Associa15 tion of Psychology Postdoctoral and Internship 

16 Centers. 

17 ‘‘(B) The term ‘general supervision’ means, 

18 with respect to a service, that the service is fur19 nished under the overall direction and control of a 

20 clinical psychologist (as defined for purposes of 

21 paragraph (1)), but the supervising psychologist’s 

22 presence is not required during the furnishing of the 

23 service.’’. 

24 (2) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made 

25 by this subsection shall apply to services furnished 


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1 on or after the date that is 1 year after the date of 

2 the enactment of this Act. 

3 (b) DEVELOPMENT OF GC MODIFIER CODE.—Not 

4 later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this 

5 Act, the Secretary of Health and Human Services shall 

6 develop a ‘‘GC’’ modifier code to identify and accurately 

7 bill for services furnished by an advanced psychology 

8 trainee pursuant to the amendments made by subsection 

9 (a). 

10 SEC. 3. GUIDANCE TO STATES ON COVERAGE OF SERVICES 

11 PROVIDED BY ADVANCED PSYCHOLOGY 

12 TRAINEES UNDER MEDICAID AND CHIP. 

13 Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment 

14 of this Act, the Secretary of Health and Human Services 

15 shall issue and disseminate guidance to States on strate16 gies to overcome existing barriers to coverage of services 

17 furnished by advanced psychology trainees (as defined 

18 under section 1861(ii)(2) of the Social Security Act, as 

19 added by section 2(a), through the Medicaid program 

20 under title XIX of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 

21 1396 et seq.) and the Children’s Health Insurance Pro22 gram under title XXI of such Act (42 U.S.C. 1397aa et 

23 seq.)). Such guidance shall include technical assistance 

24 and best practices regarding each of the following: 


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1 (1) Recommended legal mechanisms for acti2 vating coverage of services furnished by advanced 

3 psychology trainees under such programs. 

4 (2) Recommended billing codes and code modi5 fiers for services furnished by advanced psychology 

6 trainees. 

7 (3) Examples of States that have used waivers 

8 under the Medicaid program or Children’s Health 

9 Insurance Program to enable coverage of services 

10 furnished by advanced psychology trainees under 

11 such programs. 

Æ 


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