Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 5583, which would require all Medicaid programs to report on behavioral health quality measures in Medicaid, and I thank the sponsor, Ms. Clarke. The Medicaid behavioral health core set of measures contains 16 key measures used by CMS to measure and evaluate the quality of behavioral healthcare that is being provided by State Medicaid and CHIP agencies. Recently, CMS added two additional measures related to opioids. The core set is designed to help ensure that those with behavioral healthcare needs are receiving appropriate screening management and follow-up for their mental health conditions, such as substance abuse disorder, including opioid use disorders, ADHD, depression, or schizophrenia. Currently, the behavioral health core set is a quality measure. However, given the expanse of the opioid epidemic and need to improve mental healthcare quality and coordination for those with substance abuse disorders and all patients, mandatory reporting will ensure we have a standard nationwide dataset on the quality of behavioral health treatment that our beneficiaries receive under Medicaid. Quality treatment is vital to assist in bolstering our Nation's mental health and substance abuse care and in improving our healthcare system's ability to fight the opioid epidemic. I urge my colleagues to support this legislation. Mr.…”