Passage of 21st Century Cures Act seen as boost to mental health care

The 21st Century Cures Act that gained congressional approval on Wednesday has been championed as a way to speed up drug development, but it's also the most significant piece of mental health legislation since the 2008 mental health parity law (Source: “Mental Health Care Gets A Boost From 21st Century Cures Act,” National Public Radio, Dec. 7, 2016).

The bill includes provisions aimed at fighting the opioid epidemic, strengthens laws mandating parity for mental and physical health care and includes grants to increase the number of psychologists and psychiatrists, who are in short supply across the country.

It also would push states to provide early intervention for psychosis, a treatment program that has been hailed as one of the most promising mental health developments in decades. The bill generally requires states to use at least 10 percent of their mental health block grants on early intervention for psychosis, using a model called coordinated specialty care, which provides a team of specialists to provide psychotherapy, medication, education and support for patients' families, as well as services to help young people stay in school or their jobs.

The bill also sets up a $5 million grant program to provide assertive community treatment, one of the most successful strategies for helping people with serious mental illnesses such as schizophrenia. Like the early intervention program, assertive community treatment is designed to provide a team of professionals that is on call 24 hours a day. The bill also expands a grant program for assisted outpatient treatment, which provides court-ordered care for people with serious mental illness who might otherwise not seek help.

Although the bill authorizes these grants, a future Congress would have to approve funding for the programs.