HB 665/SB 328 Maryland Medical Assistance Program and Health Insurance – Annual Behavioral Health Wellness Visits – Coverage and Reimbursement
What it does: Requires public and private insurers to reimburse providers for annual behavioral health wellness assessments.
Why it matters: Montgomery Cares and Care for Kids are not health insurance, and they are local rather than State-level programs, Yet both Montgomery Cares and Care for Kids programs already incorporate behavioral health screenings into primary care and provide reimbursement or infrastructure to ensure these services are available to patients. PCC strongly believes access to behavioral health within primary care should be available to Maryland Medicaid and privately-insured beneficiaries as well. Behavioral health assessments identify patients who may need behavioral health support. Identifying needs is a critical step in connecting people with care. Ideally, providers will also be set up to introduce patients with identified needs to on-site behavioral health staff. In FY23, 70% of MCares primary care visits included a documented depression screening. Within the six clinics served by the Montgomery Cares Behavioral Health Program—some partner clinics have their own behavioral health care programs—9.2% of primary care patients received behavioral health services in FY23.
SB 367 Maryland Medical Assistance Program – Supportive Housing and Health Services
What it does: Directs the Maryland Department of Health to establish Medicaid coverage for housing and/or supporting services for Medicaid recipients who demonstrate need, including those with somatic and/or behavioral health-related challenges to maintaining stable housing.
Why it matters: To quote the legislation directly, “living without stable housing can drastically worsen an individual’s health, exacerbate mental illness, make ending substance abuse difficult, and prevent chronic physical health conditions from being addressed.” Medicaid reimbursement of these supports adds another tool to address the intersection of health and housing needs. Recent Joint Commission requirements for hospitals to screen inpatients for social needs could provide an additional opportunity to identify patients who would benefit from these services.
HB 553/SB 94 Maryland Medical Assistance Program – Self-Measured Blood Pressure Monitoring
What it does: Covers the cost of home blood pressure monitors for patients with select conditions, patient education around blood pressure measurement, and provider time to receive and review results. Also requires a utilization and impact report after one year of implementation.
Why it matters: Proposed legislation expands Maryland Medicaid coverage for remote monitoring from those with “uncontrolled high blood pressure” per 2022 legislation to a list of conditions including diabetes and pregnancy. The expansion could be an important tool for health equity, including maternal health equity. A study of national death certificate data from 2016-2017 identified “the causes of death that contributed the most to the non-Hispanic Black‒non-Hispanic White maternal mortality disparity.” Eclampsia and preeclampsia were at the top of the list. In Maryland, the average percent of Black women covered by Medicaid at delivery (53.4%) was more than twice the average for white women (20.2%) between 2021 and 2023, based on National Center for Health Statistics data via March of Dimes.
HB 417 Public Health – Commission on Universal Health Care
What it does: Establish a commission representing a broad range of interests to explore models for universal health care coverage and project potential costs to the State.
Why it matters: Universal health care coverage will not be cheap, but governments and communities incur significant costs when residents are unable to seek early and appropriate health care. Considering potential coverage options and their trade-offs is an important step in the process toward designing a more equitable care system in our state. Montgomery County and Primary Care Coalition have, for decades, worked to achieve universal health care for Montgomery County residents. Through building capacity in the community, this County has a strong network of safety-net health centers that serve residents struggling to afford or access health care. The Montgomery Cares and Care for Kids programs are proud partners in this work. We applaud the exploration of models to bring health care access to all State residents.
HB 345/SB 174 Interstate Social Work Licensure Compact
What it does: Allow Maryland to participate in a multistate licensure agreement for clinical social workers with a master’s-level education.
Why it matters: There are not enough behavioral health practitioners to meet the needs for behavioral health services in the state. The proposed legislation would simplify licensure for individuals to practice in multiple states, potentially improving access to behavioral health services in Maryland.
HB 869/SB 372 Preserve Telehealth Access Act of 2025
What it does: Continues required reimbursements for telehealth visit coverage, including audio-only visits, currently set to expire June 30, 2025.
Why it matters: Telehealth is an important option to ensure healthcare access, and it may be particularly useful for people with transit, childcare, and job challenges that make regular in-person visits challenging. Including coverage of audio-only visits helps ensure telehealth is accessible to a broad patient population that may have irregular or insufficient access to video calls. While there has been a substantial decline in MCares telehealth visits over the last few years, there were still 2,547 telehealth encounters in FY24 (3.6% of total).