Policy Briefs and Legislation Updates

The CSMH is committed to enhancing the lives of our nation's youth by strengthening the policies and programs that relate to School Mental Health (SMH). The CSMH will use this page to highlight current policy issues, post CSMH developed policy briefs, and inform the SMH stakeholder community about legislation updates that affect SMH programs.

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Health Care Reform: What School Mental Health Professionals Need to Know
This CSMH policy brief provides an overview of health care reform and the implications for school mental health. The brief highlights important changes to health care under the Affordable Care Act and its potential impact on mental health services for children and families. There is also a list of helpful resources and websites related to health care reform.

2. School-Based Health Clinic Establishment Act of 2007 The act is intended to amend the Public Health Service Act by authorizing grant funds for the operation and development of school-based health clinics to provide comprehensive health care services to medically underserved youth and families and work in unison with schools to integrate health into the overall school context.

For a summary of the S 600 “School-Based Health Clinic Establishment Act of 2007” by the National Assembly on School-Based Health Care, please click here.

For a summary of the House of Representatives, HR 4230 School Based Health Clinic Act of 2007 by the National Assembly on School-Based Health Care, please click here.

4. Mental Health Parity Act Summary (CMS) The Mental Health Parity Act of 1996 (MHPA) is a federal law that may apply to two different types of coverage, large group self-funded group health plans and large group fully insured group health plans.

5b. Mental Health in Schools Act of 2007 (House Bill HR 3430) This bill was introduced by Representative Grace F. Napolitano, co-chair of the Congressional Mental Health Caucus. The bill includes input from educators, psychologists, school psychologists, administrators, and mental health advocates.

Both the House and Senate bills authorize competitive grants to local education agencies to assist them in providing comprehensive school-based mental health programs for students (K-12) in schools across the United States. The bills would expand access to school based mental health services by broadening the scope of the Safe Schools Healthy-Students Program. For more information please click here for a summary from the Bazelon Center.

The purpose of the guidance, developed jointly by the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is to explain the relationship between the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) Privacy Rule, and to address apparent confusion on the part of school administrators, health care professionals, and others as to how these two laws apply to records maintained on students. It also addresses certain disclosures that are allowed without consent or authorization under both laws, especially those related to health and safety emergency situations. While this guidance seeks to answer many questions that school officials and others have had about the intersection of these federal laws, ongoing discussions may cause more issues to emerge. Contact information for submitting additional questions or suggestions for purposes of informing future guidance is provided at the end of the document.