Org Leadership & Governance 4

AHA.ORG | PAGE 8 OF 162025 ADVOCACY AGENDA

Post-acute Care (continued)

� Ensure Medicare Advantage bene!ciaries have access to the same post-acute care bene!ts as Traditional Medicare bene!ciaries by holding plans accountable through robust oversight and enforcement.

� Reduce administrative burden for post-acute care providers by eliminating unnecessary data reporting requirements.

Behavioral Health

� Implement policies to better integrate and coordinate behavioral health services with physical health services, including developing alternative payment models and bundled payments that incorporate behavioral and physical health services and !nancially supporting the implementation of team-based care models.

� Eliminate Medicare’s 90-day lifetime limit for inpatient psychiatric admissions.

� Repeal the Medicaid Institutions for Mental Disease exclusion, which prohibits the use of federal Medicaid funds to cover inpatient mental health services for patients aged 21 to 64 in certain freestanding psychiatric facilities.

� Reauthorize key programs in the SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Act, which would extend expiring payments, grants and other programs for substance use disorder treatment and prevention.

� Increase targeted funding for facilities that provide specialty mental health services (including pediatric, geriatric and multi-substance use disorders) and invest in the behavioral health workforce by creating dedicated Medicare-funded graduate medical education slots for these specialties.

� Make permanent the Certi!ed Community Behavioral Health Center demonstration program.

� Eliminate or amend outdated and unnecessary Conditions of Participation for psychiatric facilities related to emergency care and treatment planning documentation.

� Strengthen enforcement through signi!cant penalties for health plans that violate the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act and subsequent rules.