Fight to integrate Behavioral Health Care for All.

According to this bill H.R. 2336, the Behavioral Health Care Integrations Act of 2017 will impact people by providing a program that involves health care that will integrate primary and behavioral health care to certain populations through a specific requirement. This bill will lead to full collaboration between the primary care provider and behavioral health providers in the same facility to guarantee support for people with mental illness and a physical condition or substance use disorder.
With this program grants and agreements could be awarded to state department of health, state mental health or addiction agencies, state Medicaid agencies, health care providers and institutions. People who receive services must then report to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration (SAMHSA) on the progress in lowering barriers to combined care and outcomes for certain populations.
The code that helps with this ethical dilemma from the National Association for Social Workers (NASW) is 1.13 Payment for Services. Moreover, Code 1.13 from the NASW Code of Ethics (2017) states that (a) When setting fees, social workers should ensure that the fees are fair, reasonable, and commensurate with the services performed. Consideration should be given to clients' ability to pay. Not all clients are able to afford these services. With this act integration of physical and behavioral health care services will be funded by grants and agreements that are awarded to the state department of health, state mental health or addiction agencies, state medicaid agencies and health care providers and institutions. Therefore, the cost will be reasonable and fair for services that are provided and in some cases costs will be fully funded or on a sliding scale for individuals.