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S 2597 114th Congress Senate

Medicare Mental Health Access Act

Official title: A bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide for treatment of clinical psychologists as physicians for purposes of furnishing clinical psy… Show full official titleShow less

Official title: A bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide for treatment of clinical psychologists as physicians for purposes of furnishing clinical psychologist services under the Medicare program.

Introduced: February 25, 2016 See on congress.gov
Health Health personnelMedicareMental health
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This bill died when the 114th Congress ended
It never became law before the 114th Congress (2015–2016) adjourned, and bills don't carry over to the next Congress. It would have to be reintroduced. You can still save it for reference, but it won't receive updates.
 Everywhere this bill has been 2 steps
Introduced
In committee
Reported out
Passed House
Passed Senate
To President
Became law
Feb 25, 2016
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
Feb 25, 2016
Introduced in Senate
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 Latest action February 25, 2016

Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.

 Plain-English summary Congressional Research Service

Medicare Mental Health Access Act

This bill amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to expand the definition of "physician," for purposes of the Medicare program, to include a clinical psychologist with respect to the furnishing of qualified psychologist services.

The bill excludes a clinical psychologist, in 2017 and 2018, from certain negative payment adjustments for failing to be a meaningful electronic health records user.

 Related & companion bills 1
  • HR 4277 Identical bill Medicare Mental Health Access Act
 Bill text 1 version

Source documents hosted by congress.gov.

 Committees of jurisdiction 1
 Cosponsors 5
All 5 Democratic 3 Republican 1 Independent 1
I
King, Angus S., Jr.
Maine · Jul 14, 2016
 D
Heinrich, Martin
New Mexico · Jun 23, 2016
 D
Schatz, Brian
Hawaii · May 23, 2016
 D
Schumer, Charles E.
New York · Apr 12, 2016
 R
Collins, Susan M.
Maine · Feb 25, 2016
Cite this page click to expand
APA
U.S. Congress. (2026). S. 2597: Medicare Mental Health Access Act. 114th Congress. Open America. https://openamerica.io/bill/114-S-2597/
MLA
"S. 2597: Medicare Mental Health Access Act." 114th Congress, 2026, Open America, https://openamerica.io/bill/114-S-2597/.
Bluebook (legal)
S. 2597, 114th Cong. (2026), https://openamerica.io/bill/114-S-2597/.
Markdown link
[S. 2597: Medicare Mental Health Access Act](https://openamerica.io/bill/114-S-2597/)
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