WASHINGTON - Maine U.S. Sen. Susan Collins told fellow members of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee that the way the federal government reimburses for psychiatric services under Medicaid needs to change.
"At times federal polices exacerbate the problem of access," Collins said. "We still don't treat mental illness the way we treat physical illness."
Collins said Maine is part of a pilot program that has expanded access to psychiatric services under Medicaid by allowing so-called free standing psychiatric facilities to be reimbursed for some types of emergency services. She said that the need for such services is great across the country.
