ADAPT Act
The Accelerating the Development of Advanced Psychology Trainees Act (ADAPT Act) is a Senate bill that would expand mental health services covered by Medicare, and extend coverage guidance to Medicaid and CHIP, by allowing certain supervised psychology trainees to be reimbursed for psychological services. Specifically, it permits reimbursement for services provided by an “advanced psychology trainee” under the general supervision of a clinical psychologist, with billing handled by the supervising psychologist. The bill also requires the creation of a GC modifier code to identify these services for billing, and directs federal agencies to issue guidance to states on covering similar services under Medicaid and CHIP, including coding and potential waivers. The intention is to broaden access to behavioral health care by leveraging emerging psychology trainees in the workforce. In short, if enacted, Medicare could reimburse a new class of providers (advanced psychology trainees under supervision), and Medicaid/CHIP guidance would be issued to facilitate similar coverage at the state level. The changes would take effect at least one year after enactment, with implementation tasks (like coding and guidance) occurring within the same timeframe.
Key Points
- 1Expand Medicare coverage to include services furnished by advanced psychology trainees under general supervision, with billing by the supervising psychologist.
- 2Define “advanced psychology trainee” to include: (1) APA-accredited doctoral interns (minimum one year of supervised experiential training before earning the doctoral degree) and (2) postdoctoral residents pursuing licensure with 1–2 years of additional supervised training in APA-accredited programs or APPIC-affiliated centers.
- 3General supervision means the service is provided under the overall direction of a clinical psychologist, but the supervising psychologist need not be physically present during the delivery of the service.
- 4Effective date: provisions apply to services furnished on or after the date that is one year after enactment.
- 5Administrative provisions: within one year after enactment, HHS must develop a GC modifier code to identify and bill for services by advanced psychology trainees.
- 6Medicaid/CHIP guidance: within one year after enactment, HHS must issue guidance to states on coverage strategies, billing codes/modifiers, and examples of waivers used to enable coverage of these services under Medicaid and CHIP.