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Committee backs bill to require insurer coverage for perinatal inpatient mental-health care
Summary
Senate Bill 42, aimed at ensuring insurer coverage for voluntary inpatient treatment for perinatal and postpartum mental health, was reported with amendments after testimony from Woman's Hospital staff about a new 10-bed unit and frequent initial denials by payers.
Senate Bill 42, which would require insurers to cover voluntary inpatient perinatal behavioral health treatment when recommended by a treating physician, was reported with amendments by the Senate Insurance Committee on April 23.
Senator Sellers, the bill sponsor, introduced the measure and called forward clinicians from Woman’s Hospital to explain a new perinatal mental health unit the hospital opened last September. “This is an inpatient 10 bed unit that cost us about $8,000,000 to build,” said Sheree Johnson, executive vice president and chief nursing officer at Woman’s Hospital. Johnson said the unit treats women at any gestational age and up to a year postpartum for perinatal mood and…
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