119-s2356

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2356 Introduced in Senate

    (IS) ]

<DOC>

119th CONGRESS
 1st Session
 S. 2356

 To expand psychological mental and behavioral health services to 
Medicare, Medicaid, and CHIP beneficiaries by permitting reimbursement 
 of psychological services provided by certain supervised psychology 
 trainees, and facilitating the reimbursement of those services.

_______________________________________________________________________

 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

 July 17, 2025

 Mr. Barrasso (for himself and Mr. Bennet) introduced the following 
 bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance

_______________________________________________________________________

 A BILL

 To expand psychological mental and behavioral health services to 
Medicare, Medicaid, and CHIP beneficiaries by permitting reimbursement 
 of psychological services provided by certain supervised psychology 
 trainees, and facilitating the reimbursement of those services.

 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

 This Act may be cited as the ``Accelerating the Development of 
Advanced Psychology Trainees Act'' or the ``ADAPT Act''.

SEC. 2. COVERAGE AND CODING FOR QUALIFIED PSYCHOLOGIST SERVICES 
 FURNISHED BY ADVANCED PSYCHOLOGY TRAINEES UNDER THE 
 MEDICARE PROGRAM.

    (a) Coverage.--

    (1) In general.--

Section 1861
            (ii) of the Social Security 
 Act (42 U.S.C. 1395x
            (ii) ) is amended--
        (A) by inserting ``

    (1) '' after ``
            (ii) '';
        (B) in paragraph

    (1) , as added by subparagraph
        (A) , 
 by inserting ``(or furnished by an advanced psychology 
 trainee under the general supervision of a clinical 
 psychologist (as so defined) and billed by the 
 supervising psychologist)'' after ``(as defined by the 
 Secretary)''; and
            (C) by adding at the end the following new 
 paragraph:
 ``

    (2) In this subsection:
 ``
        (A) The term `advanced psychology trainee' means--
 ``
            (i) a doctoral intern who is completing a 
 required period of supervised experiential training 
 through a program accredited by the American 
 Psychological Association, not less than one year in 
 duration, before being awarded a doctoral degree; or
 ``
            (ii) a postdoctoral resident who has obtained a 
 doctoral degree in psychology, is seeking a license to 
 practice psychology, and is engaged in a 1- or 2-year 
 period of additional supervised experiential training 
 to acquire the skills or hours required for licensure 
 through a program accredited by the American 
 Psychological Association or a member of the 
 Association of Psychology Postdoctoral and Internship 
 Centers.
 ``
        (B) The term `general supervision' means, with respect to 
 a service, that the service is furnished under the overall 
 direction and control of a clinical psychologist (as defined 
 for purposes of paragraph

    (1) ), but the supervising 
 psychologist's presence is not required during the furnishing 
 of the service.''.

    (2) Effective date.--The amendments made by this subsection 
 shall apply to services furnished on or after the date that is 
 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act.

    (b) Development of GC Modifier Code.--Not later than 1 year after 
the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Health and 
Human Services shall develop a ``GC'' modifier code to identify and 
accurately bill for services furnished by an advanced psychology 
trainee pursuant to the amendments made by subsection

    (a) .

SEC. 3. GUIDANCE TO STATES ON COVERAGE OF SERVICES PROVIDED BY ADVANCED 
 PSYCHOLOGY TRAINEES UNDER MEDICAID AND CHIP.

 Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, the 
Secretary of Health and Human Services shall issue and disseminate 
guidance to States on strategies to overcome existing barriers to 
coverage of services furnished by advanced psychology trainees (as 
defined under 

section 1861
            (ii) (2) of the Social Security Act, as added 
by 

section 2

    (a) , through the Medicaid program under title XIX of the 
Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1396 et seq.) and the Children's Health 
Insurance Program under title XXI of such Act (42 U.S.C. 1397aa et 
seq.)). Such guidance shall include technical assistance and best 
practices regarding each of the following:

    (1) Recommended legal mechanisms for activating coverage of 
 services furnished by advanced psychology trainees under such 
 programs.

    (2) Recommended billing codes and code modifiers for 
 services furnished by advanced psychology trainees.

    (3) Examples of States that have used waivers under the 
 Medicaid program or Children's Health Insurance Program to 
 enable coverage of services furnished by advanced psychology 
 trainees under such programs.
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