This week our In Focus section reviews President Joseph R. Biden’s 2023 State of the Union Address (SOTU) to Congress. The President highlighted specific actions that Congress, and the Administration have taken over the last two years to advance his health care priorities.
During his first SOTU address in 2022, President Biden announced the creation of a “Unity Agenda”, which included priority policy areas with potential for bi-partisan support. The President highlighted several steps the Administration has taken to advance the “Unity Agenda” including:
- The bipartisan effort to enact the Mainstreaming Addiction Treatment (MAT) Act, which removed the federal requirement for practitioners to have a waiver (known as the X-waiver) to prescribe medications, like buprenorphine, for the treatment of opioid use disorder
- The Cancer Moonshot announcements for almost 30 new programs, policies, and resources to close the screening gap, tackle environmental exposure, decrease preventable cancers, advance cutting-edge research, support patients and caregivers, and more.
- Addressing mental health needs through the expansion of Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics and launch of the 988-suicide prevention hotline.
In his SOTU and accompanying White House materials, the President also proposed new policies and initiatives to further advance his health care agenda. These actions include a combination of issues that would require Congressional approval as well as actions regulatory agencies can already advance. Congress and the Administration are expected to build on previous bipartisan achievements to tackle the nation’s dual crises with addiction and mental health.
Notably, the policies outlined in the SOTU foreshadow an active regulatory agenda over the next 18 months as the Administration seeks to solidify key aspects of the President’s health care agenda ahead of the next Presidential election.
The Administration’s planned actions include the following:
Opioids
- Calling on Congress to pass legislation to permanently schedule all illicitly produced fentanyl-related substances into Schedule I.
- SAMHSA will provide enhanced technical assistance to states who have existing State Opioid Response funds, and will host peer learning forums, national policy academies, and convenings with organizations distributing naloxone beginning this spring.
- By this summer, the Federal Bureau of Prisons will ensure that each of their 122 facilities are equipped and trained to provide in-house medication-assisted treatment (MAT).
- This spring CMS will provide guidance to states on the use of federal Medicaid funding to provide health care services—including treatment for people with substance use disorder—to individuals in state and local jails and prisons prior to their release. California is the first state to receive approval for a similar initiative.
Mental Health
- CDC plans to launch a new campaign to provide a hub of mental health and resiliency resources to health care organizations in better supporting their workforce.
- The Department of Education (ED) will announce more than $280 million in grants to increase the number of mental health care professionals in high-need districts and strengthen the school-based mental health profession pipeline.
- HHS and ED will issue guidance and propose a rule to make it easier for schools to provide health care to students and more easily bill Medicaid for these services.
- The Administration is scheduled to propose new mental health parity rules this spring.
- HHS will improve the capacity of the 988 Lifeline by investing in an expansion of the crisis care workforce; scaling mobile crisis intervention services; and developing additional guidance on best practices in crisis response.
- HHS also plans to promote interstate license reciprocity for delivery of mental health services across state lines.
- HHS intends to increase funding to recruit future mental health professionals from Historically Black Colleges and Universities and to expand the Minority Fellowship Program.
- The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), working with HHS and Defense, will launch a program for states, territories, Tribes and Tribal organizations to develop and implement proposals to reduce suicides in the military and among veterans.
- VA will also increase the number of peer specialists working across VA medical centers to meet mental health needs
Cancer Moonshot
- The President called on Congress to reauthorize the National Cancer Act to overhaul cancer research and to extend the funding for biomedical research established in the 21st Century Cures Act.
- The Administration will take steps to ensure that patient navigation services are covered by insurance. This could require legislation depending on which type on insurance an individual has.
Health care costs
- Urging Congress to pass legislation to cap insulin prices in all health care markets. Expanding the $35 insulin cap to commercial markets will require the 60 votes in the Senate.
Home and community services
- Working with Congress to approve legislation to ensure seniors and people with disabilities can access home care services and to provide support to caregivers.
HMA and HMA companies are closely monitoring these federal policy developments. We can assist healthcare stakeholders in responding to the immediate opportunities and challenges that arise and contextualize these actions for longer-term strategic business and operational decisions.
If you have questions about these or other federal policy issues and how they will impact your organization, please contact our experts below.
