S 1056119th CongressIn Committee

Home-Based Telemental Health Care Act of 2025

Introduced: Mar 13, 2025

Standard Summary

Comprehensive overview in 1-2 paragraphs

The Home-Based Telemental Health Care Act of 2025 would create a new grant program under Title III of the Public Health Service Act to expand mental health and substance use services delivered at home through telemental health. The program targets rural underserved populations, including health professional shortage areas in rural areas and people working in farming, fishing, or forestry. The Secretary of Health and Human Services, working with the Rural Health Liaison at the Department of Agriculture, would award grants to public or nonprofit telemental health provider networks to deliver services remotely, improve access, and build related infrastructure. Funds may be used to provide services, develop quality metrics, expand broadband, supply devices to patients, and offset technology costs for providers. The bill requires periodic reporting to Congress (at year 3 and year 5 after program start) and authorizes up to $10 million per fiscal year from 2025 through 2029 for this program (potentially up to $50 million total over the five-year span).

Key Points

1Grant program to expand home-based telemental health and substance use services for covered populations (rural HPSAs and farming/fishing/forestry workers) delivered remotely by professionals trained in mental health and SUD care.
2Definitions establishing who is eligible and what counts as telemental health, including covered populations, eligible entities (public or nonprofit networks), and home-based delivery (patient at home or in a comfortable setting).
3Use of funds includes delivering services, developing quality/impact metrics, and strengthening infrastructure (broadband access, patient devices, and technology costs for providers).
4Administration involves the Secretary of Health and Human Services in coordination with the Rural Health Liaison of the Department of Agriculture.
5Funding and reporting: up to $10 million per fiscal year (2025–2029) with required reports to Congress at 3 years after program start and again 2 years later (approximately year 5), evaluating impact and quality of care.

Impact Areas

Primary group/area affected: Rural, medically underserved populations, including workers in farming, fishing, and forestry, who lack adequate access to traditional in-person mental health and substance use services.Secondary group/area affected: Public or nonprofit telemental health provider networks and the health workforce delivering remote services; broadband and technology infrastructure providers; and the federal agencies involved (HHS and USDA).Additional impacts: Potential improvements in data on effectiveness of home-based telemental health, increased emphasis on measuring quality and outcomes, and the need for supporting infrastructure (broadband expansion and devices) to enable remote care. The bill does not detail licensure cross-state issues or privacy protections, so these aspects would require further consideration in implementation.

Generated by gpt-5-nano on Nov 1, 2025