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S769 • 2025

An Act providing continuity of care for mental health treatment

An Act providing continuity of care for mental health treatment

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The official status still shows this bill as active or still awaiting another formal step.

Sponsor
John F. Keenan
Last action
2026-02-09
Official status
Referred to Senate Committee on Ways and Means
Effective date
Not listed

Plain English Breakdown

Using official source text because the generated explanation was unavailable or could not be confirmed against the official bill text.

An Act providing continuity of care for mental health treatment

An Act providing continuity of care for mental health treatment By Mr.

What This Bill Does

  • An Act providing continuity of care for mental health treatment By Mr.
  • Keenan, a petition (accompanied by bill, Senate, No.
  • 769) of John F.
  • Keenan, James B.

Limits and Unknowns

  • This entry is temporarily using official source text because the generated explanation could not be confirmed against the official bill text during the last sync.

Bill History

  1. 2026-02-09 Senate

    Committee recommended ought to pass and referred to the committee on Senate Ways and Means

  2. 2025-12-15 Senate

    Bill reported favorably by committee and referred to the committee on Health Care Financing

  3. 2025-09-09 Joint

    Hearing rescheduled to 09/09/2025 from 10:30 AM-12:30 PM in A-2 and Virtual Hearing updated to New End Time

  4. 2025-09-03 Joint

    Hearing scheduled for 09/09/2025 from 10:30 AM-1:00 PM in A-2 and virtual

  5. 2025-02-27 Senate

    Referred to the committee on Financial Services

  6. 2025-02-27 House

    House concurred

Official Summary Text

An Act providing continuity of care for mental health treatment
By Mr. Keenan, a petition (accompanied by bill, Senate, No. 769) of John F. Keenan, James B. Eldridge, James K. Hawkins and Michael O. Moore for legislation to provide continuity of care for mental health treatment. Financial Services.
Status:
Referred to Senate Committee on Ways and Means

Current Bill Text

Read the full stored bill text 
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Bill S.769

SECTION 1. Section 1 of chapter 176O of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2022 Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting after the definition of “Concurrent review” the following definition:-

“Continuing course of treatment”, having at least 1 visit in the past 4 months for the same or similar mental health diagnosis or set of symptoms.

SECTION 2. Subsection (e) of section 15 of said chapter 176O is hereby amended by striking out the words “that could have been imposed if the provider had not been disenrolled;” and inserting in place thereof the following words:- permitted under this section;.

SECTION 3. The second sentence of said subsection (e) of said section 15 of said chapter 176O is hereby further amended by striking out the word “remained” and inserting in place thereof the following words:- had been.

SECTION 4. Section 15 of said chapter 176O is hereby further amended by adding after subsection (k) the following subsection:-

(l) A carrier shall allow any insured who is engaged in a continuing course of treatment with a licensed mental health provider eligible for coverage under the plan, and whose provider in connection with said mental health treatment is involuntarily or voluntarily disenrolled, other than for quality-related reasons or for fraud, or whose carrier has changed for any reason thereby placing the provider out-of-network, to continue treatment with said provider through an out-of-network option, pursuant to the following:

(1) The carrier shall reimburse the licensed mental health care professional the usual network per-unit reimbursement rate for the relevant service and provider type as payment in full. If more than one reimbursement rate exists, the carrier shall use the median reimbursement rate.

(2) The non-network option may require that a covered person pay a higher co-payment only if the higher co-payment results from increased costs caused by the use of a non-network provider. The carrier shall provide an actuarial demonstration of the increased costs to the division of health care finance and policy at the commissioner’s request. If the increased costs are not justified, the commissioner shall require the carrier to recalculate the appropriate costs allowed and resubmit the appropriate co-payment to the division of health care finance and policy.

(3) No additional charges, costs or deductibles may be levied due to the exercise of the out-of-network option. The amount of any additional co-payment charged by the carrier for the additional cost of the creation and maintenance of coverage described in subsection (1) shall be paid by the covered person unless it is paid by an employer or other person through agreement with the carrier.

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