Improving the Quality of Mental and Substance Use Health Care Act of 2007

Bill: 110-hr-4232
Sponsor: Rep. Kennedy, Patrick J. [D-RI-1]
Introduced: 2007-11-15 in the House
Policy area: Health
Subjects: Accreditation (Medical care)
Alcoholism
Armed Forces and National Security
Auditing
Case management
Civil Rights and Liberties, Minority Issues
Claims
Community health services
Congress
Congressional investigations
Congressional reporting requirements
Drug abuse
Drug abuse treatment
Executive reorganization
Federal advisory bodies
Federal aid to health facilities
Federal aid to research
Finance and Financial Sector
Government Operations and Politics
Governmental investigations
Health information systems
Health planning
Home care services
Information technology
Medicaid
Medical personnel
Medical records
Medical research
Mental health
Mental health services
Mental illness
Military medicine
Patients' rights
Presidential commissions
Research grants
Right of privacy
Science, Technology, Communications
Social Welfare
State laws
Veterans' medical care

Summary:
action_date: 2007-11-15
text: 
Improving the Quality of Mental and Substance Use Health Care Act of 2007 - Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to: (1) establish a Commission for Evidence-Based Mental and Substance Use Health Care; (2) convene an interagency collaborative group to provide for the coordination of mental health and substance use services and primary care services funded through the Departments of Health and Human Services (HHS), Justice, Veterans Affairs, Defense, and Education; (3) implement a plan for ensuring that HHS activities to promote information technology use by health care providers include promotion of technology that is accessible and pertinent to mental health and substance use health care providers and consumers; (4) establish the Council on Mental Health and Substance Use Health Care Workforce; (5) develop uniform methodologies regarding qualifications for eligibility for payment, financial auditing, and claims payment with respect to medical assistance, related services, and administrative costs furnished to individuals with mental illnesses and substance use disorders in community-based and residential settings; and (6) establish a five-year project designed to demonstrate the impact of creating delivery and financing structures that deliver high-quality, integrated mental health and substance use health care.

Requires: (1) the Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to make grants to entities to fund a network of national centers of excellence in mental health and substance use health care; and (2) the Comptroller General to study the use of publicly supported mental health and addiction services by individuals who have any level of private health insurance coverage.

Amends the Social Security Act to establish a Medicaid requirement that states receiving assistance prohibit the denial of covered services and benefits based on intoxication.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2007-11-15
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Health.
action_date: 2007-11-15
text: Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
action_date: 2007-11-15
text: Introduced in House
action_date: 2007-11-15
text: Introduced in House