Committee hears House File 958 to make collaborative care a Medicaid benefit

Representative Nadeau presented House File 958, which would make collaborative care — a team-based, primary-care–embedded approach to treating common mental health and substance-use conditions — a reimbursable Medicaid benefit in Minnesota.

Nut graf: The bill sponsor and clinical testifiers said collaborative care has evidence of improved outcomes and broad reimbursement nationally; the proposal would allow specified providers to bill Medicaid using collaborative-care codes, set reimbursement rates, and provide one-time startup funds for training. The committee adopted an author amendment (DE1) and referred the bill to the Committee on Human Services Finance and Policy as amended.

What the bill would do: Representative Nadeau said House File 958 would allow specified providers to bill Medicaid using collaborative-care procedure codes, establish a sustainable reimbursement rate, and allocate…