Behavioral Health
Behavioral health is a major public health issue in the District of Columbia. Sadly, many of the legislative and regulatory initiatives around behavioral health are tied to other public health concerns, such as opioid addiction, maternal mortality, and health equity.
In partnership with the Washington Psychiatric Society, AMA, and American Psychiatric Association (APA), MSDC works to ensure that patients receive appropriate support for behavioral health issues, that the practice of psychiatry is supported in the District, and that psychiatrists are available to patients in the District.
MSDC was a proud supporter of the Behavioral Health Parity Act of 2017, which enshrined into law that all health plans offered by an insurance carrier meet federal requirements of the Wellstone/Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008.
MSDC Statements and Testimony of Behavioral Health Issues
25th Council period information coming soon
MSDC Asks Council to Support Physicians in Underserved Areas
Today, MSDC sent a letter to the Council of DC outlining the actions it can take to ensure that all Wards have a local physician network to keep District residents healthy.
The COVID-19 public health emergency has made abundantly clear that health inequalities exist. The percentage of COVID-19 cases in the District are rising fastest in Ward 8, and 78% of COVID-19 deaths have been African-American residents. MSDC has asked the Mayor's office in recent weeks to include messaging on lifestyle choices to prevent COVID-19 mortality.
Today's letter goes in-depth to address many of the systematic issues that prevent physicians from opening offices in underserved areas. We note that the issue is not that physician do not want to practice in underserved areas like Wards 7 and 8, but rather there are structural issues that make opening a successful practice tough.
Recommendations from MSDC include:
- Providing support for physicians to buy office space in underserved areas or received reduce rent to help with overhead.
- Continue to support DC Health Care Finance efforts to help offices join the Health Information Exchange and boost reimbursement for specialists.
- Encourage affiliation agreements in new hospital contracts that allow physicians to operate independent offices but provide services to new hospitals.
Sample of Legislation MSDC is Tracking in Behavioral Health
(see the whole list of bills here)
What does it do? The bill requires licensed health providers to complete 2 hours of CME on suicide prevention, assessment, and screening.
MSDC position: MSDC opposes the bill as written as the language does not encourage physician wellbeing or sufficient awareness of suicide prevention.
Current status: The bill had a hearing with the Committee on Health on June 10.
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