AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF CHILD & ADOLESCENT PSYCHIATRY

Children's mental health; child and adolescent psychiatry workforce & health care workforce shortage; telehealth; Medicaid programming/funding; H.R. 9257, Primary and Behavioral Health Care Access Act of 2026), provisions relating to behavioral health coverage, including requirements for private health plans to cover three annual behavioral health visits without cost sharing and prohibitions on more restrictive treatment limitations for those visits; MediKids Act, draft legislation, provisions expanding Medicaid eligibility to all children and allowing individuals to remain enrolled through age 26, regardless of income level or immigration status; FY 2027 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, specifically funding for SAMHSA, HRSA, and the Childrens Hospitals Graduate Medical Education program; Federal policies and initiatives relating to children's access to evidence-based psychiatric medications, including congressional oversight of executive branch actions affecting the development and implementation of such policies; Pediatric Mental Health Care Access Program reauthorization; Department of Labor mental health parity enforcement and regulatory activities, including issues related to AACAPs service intensity instruments and their relevance to mental health parity; Department of State and Department of Homeland Security policies regarding J-1 visa processing and barriers preventing International Medical Graduates from entering or remaining lawfully in the United States; H.R. 8124, Stabilization to Prevent (STOP) Suicide Act, provisions establishing a grant program at SAMHSA to expand the use of evidence-based models for stabilizing individuals with serious thoughts of suicide, allowing more providers to deliver outpatient or virtual stabilization services; SAMHSA actions relating to the planned removal of the buprenorphine practitioner locator and pharmacy locator.