Medicare's mental health coverage: how COVID-19 highlights gaps and opportunities for improvement

Medicare's mental health coverage: how COVID-19 highlights gaps and opportunities for improvement

Collection:
Health Policy and Services Research
Series Title(s):
Issue brief (Commonwealth Fund)
Author(s):
McGinty, Beth, author
Contributor(s):
Commonwealth Fund, issuing body.
Publication:
[New York, N.Y.] : The Commonwealth Fund, July 2020
Language(s):
English
Format:
Text
Subject(s):
Coronavirus Infections
Medicare
Mental Health Services
Pandemics
Health Services Accessibility
United States
Genre(s):
Technical Report
Abstract:
ISSUE. The COVID-19 pandemic has increased psychological distress among U.S. adults and will likely increase the need for mental health services among Medicare beneficiaries. GOAL. To provide an overview of Medicare beneficiaries' mental health needs and benefits as well as initiatives to improve the financing and delivery of mental health services in Medicare. KEY FINDINGS. Several recent policy changes have enhanced Medicare beneficiaries' access to mental health services, including coinsurance parity for outpatient mental health visits, the closing of the prescription drug "doughnut hole," and newly introduced financing mechanisms to support depression screening and mental health care management. But gaps remain, including the 190-day lifetime limit for inpatient psychiatric stays; lack of coverage of services delivered by licensed professional counselors; poor access to mental health providers in Medicare Advantage plan networks; and limited coverage for telemental health services. CONCLUSIONS. The COVID-19 pandemic highlights gaps in Medicare mental health coverage as well as opportunities for improvement. Policies to expand coverage of telemental health should be rigorously studied and potentially made permanent as a strategy to increase access to mental health services.
Copyright:
Reproduced with permission of the copyright holder. Further use of the material is subject to CC BY license. (More information)
Extent:
1 online resource (1 PDF file (9 pages))
Illustrations:
Illustrations
NLM Unique ID:
101769566 (See catalog record)
Permanent Link:
http://resource.nlm.nih.gov/101769566