BEHAVIORAL HEALTH: Requests the Louisiana Department of Health and Louisiana commercial health insurance payors to increase reimbursement rates for behavioral health crisis centers operating under a crisis receiving center license.

SLS 26RS-1884 ORIGINAL
2026 Regular Session
SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO. 61
BY SENATOR BARROW
BEHAVIORAL HEALTH. Requests the Louisiana Department of Health and Louisiana
commercial health insurance payors to increase reimbursement rates for behavioral health
crisis centers operating under a crisis receiving center license.
1 A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
2 To urge and request the Louisiana Department of Health and Louisiana commercial health
3 insurance payors to increase reimbursement rates for behavioral health crisis centers
4 operating under a crisis receiving center license.
5 WHEREAS, the Louisiana crisis response system was established in 2022 as a
6 statewide mental health crisis response system aligned with the Substance Abuse and Mental
7 Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) guidelines; and
8 WHEREAS, the goals of the Louisiana crisis response system are to support
9 individuals with mental illness that had been living in nursing facilities transition back into
10 the community, reduce emergency room utilization, and decrease law enforcement and
11 justice system involvement in the care of individuals with mental illness; and
12 WHEREAS, the office of behavioral health included in its final design for the crisis
13 system of care four key services, including mobile crisis response, community brief crisis
14 support, behavioral health crisis centers, and crisis stabilization; and
15 WHEREAS, behavioral health crisis centers are walk-in facilities that offer
16 short-term crisis intervention services, which includes twenty-three hour care designed to
17 stabilize individuals in crisis; and
18 WHEREAS, under the Louisiana Department of Health's licensing framework,
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SCR NO. 61
SLS 26RS-1884 ORIGINAL
1 behavioral health crisis centers may obtain either a behavioral health service provider license
2 or a crisis receiving center license; and
3 WHEREAS, facilities licensed as crisis receiving centers are the only facilities
4 authorized and staffed to offer both short-term, twenty-three hour crisis stabilization services
5 and long-term, three to seven day crisis care at the same location for individuals requiring
6 further stabilization; and
7 WHEREAS, the Louisiana Medicaid fee schedule has distinct reimbursement rates
8 for behavioral health crisis care performed with a behavioral health service license versus
9 a crisis receiving center license with different levels of staffing required; and
10 WHEREAS, Medicaid reimbursement rates for behavioral health crisis care
11 providers operating under a crisis receiving center license are inadequate to cover the cost
12 of twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week staffing required by the Louisiana
13 Department of Health, and the additional staffing required to care for higher acuity patients
14 served by behavioral health crisis care providers and crisis receiving centers; and
15 WHEREAS, an independent, third-party rate analysis shows the total per diem cost
16 for a licensed behavioral health crisis care provider operating a crisis receiving center is
17 $1,163 to provide the first twenty-three hours of care in compliance with state and federal
18 regulatory staffing requirements, which includes costs for clinicians, nurses, licensed
19 prescribers, peer support specialists, and behavioral health technicians; and
20 WHEREAS, the current Louisiana Medicaid per diem reimbursement rate for a
21 licensed behavioral health crisis care provider operating a crisis receiving center is $549.40;
22 and
23 WHEREAS, as a result of inadequate Medicaid reimbursement rates for a licensed
24 behavioral health crisis care provider operating a crisis receiving center, there is currently
25 only one provider of this type throughout Louisiana; and
26 WHEREAS, other crisis receiving centers have attempted to open in other regions
27 of the state, but have been unable to open or remain viable due to inadequate Medicaid and
28 commercial insurance reimbursement rates.
29 THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby
30 urge and request the Louisiana Department of Health and Louisiana commercial health
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SCR NO. 61
SLS 26RS-1884 ORIGINAL
1 insurance payors to increase reimbursement rates to more accurately reflect the cost of
2 providing crisis stabilization services at behavioral health crisis centers operating under a
3 crisis receiving center license.
4 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to the
5 secretary of the Louisiana Department of Health and the executive director of the Louisiana
6 Association of Health Plans.
The original instrument and the following digest, which constitutes no part
of the legislative instrument, were prepared by Senate Legislative Services.
The keyword, summary, and digest do not constitute part of the law or proof
or indicia of legislative intent. [R.S. 1:13(B) and 24:177(E)]
DIGEST
SCR 61 Original 2026 Regular Session Barrow
Requests the La. Dept. of Health and Louisiana commercial health insurance payors to
increase reimbursement rates for behavioral health crisis centers operating under a crisis
receiving center license.
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