I 
116TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1533 
To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to improve access to mental 
health services under the Medicare program. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 5, 2019 
Ms. LEE of California (for herself, Ms. HILL of California, Ms. WILD, Mrs. 
WATSON COLEMAN, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. BISHOP of 
Georgia, Ms. CLARKE of New York, Ms. KAPTUR, Mr. EVANS, Mr. 
DEFAZIO, Mr. KILMER, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. SERRANO, and Mr. SOTO) in-
troduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on En-
ergy 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 jurisdic-
tion of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to improve 
access to mental health services under the Medicare program. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Improving Access to 
Mental Health Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. IMPROVED ACCESS TO MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES 
UNDER THE MEDICARE PROGRAM. 
(a) ACCESS TO CLINICAL SOCIAL WORKERS.—Sec-
tion 1833(a)(1)(F)(ii) of the Social Security Act (42 
U.S.C. 1395l(a)(1)(F)(ii)) is amended by striking ‘‘75 
percent of the amount determined for payment of a psy-
chologist under clause (L)’’ and inserting ‘‘85 percent of 
the fee schedule amount provided under section 1848’’. 
(b) ACCESS TO CLINICAL SOCIAL WORKER SERVICES 
PROVIDED TO RESIDENTS OF SKILLED NURSING FACILI-
TIES.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Section 1888(e)(2)(A)(ii) of 
the 
Social 
Security 
Act 
(42 
U.S.C. 
1395yy(e)(2)(A)(ii)) is amended by inserting ‘‘clin-
ical social worker services,’’ after ‘‘qualified psychol-
ogist services,’’. 
(2) 
CONFORMING
AMENDMENT.—Section 
1861(hh)(2) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 
1395x(hh)(2)) is amended by striking ‘‘and other 
than services furnished to an inpatient of a skilled 
nursing facility which the facility is required to pro-
vide as a requirement for participation’’. 
(c) ACCESS TO THE COMPLETE SET OF CLINICAL SO-
CIAL WORKER SERVICES.—Section 1861(hh)(2) of the So-
cial Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395x(hh)(2)) is amended— 
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(1) by striking ‘‘for the diagnosis and treatment 
of mental illnesses (other than services’’ and insert-
ing ‘‘, including services for the diagnosis and treat-
ment of mental illnesses and services for health and 
behavior assessment and intervention as identified as 
of January 1, 2019, by HCPCS codes 96150 
through 96161 (and any succeeding codes), but not 
including services’’; and 
(2) by striking ‘‘) which’’ and inserting ‘‘, 
which’’. 
(d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 
this section shall apply to items and services furnished on 
or after January 1, 2020. 
Æ 
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