YourVoice.Now Summary
Your MoneyWorkers & JobsTransparency & AccountabilityMedicare mental health care from a psychologist without a doctor's sign-off, plus a 10 percent bonus in short-staffed areas, starting in 2028.
Your Money
Five Medicare settings now require a doctor to direct, supervise, or certify the care: rehab centers, nursing homes, day treatment programs, home health, and psychiatric hospitals. A clinical psychologist could fill that role for psychologist services, as far as state law allows. The psychologist would still have to consult the patient's own doctor.
Workers & Jobs
Medicare already pays doctors 10 percent extra for work in areas the government marks as short on health providers. Clinical psychologists would get the same extra pay, starting with 2028. It is paid monthly or quarterly out of the trust fund, not by the patient.
Nursing home rules list which jobs count as licensed health professionals. Clinical psychologists would be added to that list, so a psychologist is not treated as a nurse aide.
Transparency & Accountability
Medicare law already bars courts and hearings from reviewing how a doctor is matched to a county for this bonus. That bar would be widened to cover clinical psychologists. The House bill of the same name does not make this change; it is the one place the two texts differ.
More about this bill
Medicare patients could get mental health care from a psychologist without a doctor first signing off. Today a doctor must direct or approve that care in nursing homes, rehab centers, and psychiatric hospitals. The same holds for home health visits and day treatment programs. A clinical psychologist could take that role for their own work, where state law allows it. Psychologists who work where health care is scarce would earn more from Medicare. They would get a bonus of 10 percent on top of the usual payment, starting with 2028. Doctors already get that bonus. The money comes from a Medicare trust fund, so patients would not pay more. One appeal route would close. No court or appeal could question how a psychologist is matched to a county for that bonus. That block already covers doctors. The care changes would begin January 1, 2028.
Congressional Summary
Increasing Mental Health Options Act of 2026This bill provides for an additional payment for clinical psychologists under Medicare who provide services in designated health professional shortage areas. It also allows clinical psychologists to provide behavioral health services (in accordance with state law) for purposes of hospitalization services, home health services, and other services under Medicare.
Details
- Congress
- 119th
- Chamber
- Senate
- Status
- summarized
- Action
- Introduced in Senate
- Action Date
- 2026-07-23
- Date Added
- 2026-08-27
- Source
- Congress.gov →
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