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Committee approves broader mental-health case management, telehealth, protected-transport increases
Summary
Senate File 1953, which expands targeted case management eligibility, preserves audio-only telehealth coverage, increases reimbursement for protected transport and funds early psychosis and early bipolar programs, passed the Health and Human Services Committee and was referred to the Human Services Committee.
On March 13, 2025, the Minnesota Senate Health and Human Services Committee approved Senate File 1953 as amended and referred it to the Committee on Human Services. The bill bundles several mental-health provisions: expanded eligibility for targeted case management and community support services, continuation of audio-only telehealth coverage, higher reimbursement for protected transport, and funding for early-episode programs for psychosis and early bipolar disorder.
Senator Mann carried the bill and noted it would expand access to case management and related supports, raise the rate for protected transportation and create grants for early bipolar programs in addition to expanding first-episode-of-psychosis programs. “Case management is a low-cost service that can really help people with serious mental illnesses stay connected,” said Sue Abderholden, executive director of NAMI Minnesota, who supported the broader eligibility proposals.
Clinical and program staff urged support for early-intervention models. Jules Lindholm, a licensed clinical social worker at M Health Fairview Psychiatry Clinic, said Minnesota’s NAVIGATE first-episode psychosis sites are seeing sharply rising referrals—92 referrals in 2022 versus 283 in 2024 at the university program alone—and urged sustained funding. He said an early bipolar pilot, STRIDE, has shown promise but lacks sustainable operations funding.
Multiple witnesses supported raising the protected-transport reimbursement rate, including Anna Solum of Aspirus St. Luke’s, who said her hospital paid more than $100,000 in uncompensated secure transports in fiscal 2024 and that Medicaid rates cover roughly one-third of basic operating costs for those providers.
The Association of Minnesota Counties (AMC/MACSA) supported many goals of the bill but expressed concern that the proposal’s expansion of targeted case management could shift significant nonfederal costs to county property taxpayers unless the state negotiated a funding approach to cover the nonfederal share. The bill was passed by the Health and Human Services Committee and referred to Human Services for additional jurisdictional review and any fiscal changes.
