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Contact: Cameron Hardy
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Thomas to Meet with Wyoming’s Rural Health Leaders
Senator Introduces Mental Health Bill, Plans Additional Rural Health Legislation
 
April 21st, 2005 - WASHINGTON – Sen. Craig Thomas introduced the Senior’s Mental Health Access Improvement Act of 2005 last week which will allow additional mental health providers in the nation and in Wyoming to bill Medicare.

Currently, the only mental health providers allowed to bill Medicare are psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, and clinical nurse specialists.

Thomas cosponsored the legislation with Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) in an effort which would allow marriage and family therapists (MFTs) and licensed professional counselors (LPCs) to bill Medicare for their services.

Thomas said he has heard a great deal of support for the legislation from the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy, the American Association of Mental Health Counselors, the American Counseling Association, the Wyoming Association of Marriage and Family Therapists, and several LPCs with practices in Casper.

“This is an important bill to reintroduce in the 109th Congress as we continue to strive to provide improved health care access,” Thomas said. “Improving access to health care is one step toward addressing rural health care issues. But there is more work to be done.”

Thomas to meet rural health leaders
To that end, Thomas will spend this weekend meeting with numerous Wyoming health care agencies to gain insight about the needs of the state’s fragile rural health care network. Thomas is getting set to introduce two pieces of legislation in May to deal with other facets of Wyoming’s rural health care needs.

“It’s important to work closely with rural health providers in Wyoming, in order to address our state’s needs in an efficient and meaningful way,” Thomas said.

Wyoming senior senator will meet Saturday in Cheyenne with representatives of the Wyoming Health Care Commission, Wyoming Health Resources Network, the State Office of Rural Health, Wyoming Medical Society, Wyoming Hospital Association, and the Wyoming Primary Care Association.

Background on Senior Mental Health Access Improvement Act
One-fifth of all rural counties have no mental health services of any kind. There is a higher rate of depression and suicide in rural areas which disproportionately affects our elderly populations. It is important to keep in mind that in 20 years, Wyoming will have the highest proportion of seniors of any state in the nation.
Rural communities face significant challenges in recruiting and retaining providers – particularly mental health professionals. Often, MFTs and LPCs are the only mental health providers available in underserved rural and frontier areas.
Wyoming has 174 psychologists, 37 psychiatrists, and 263 clinical social workers for a total of 474 Medicare eligible mental health providers.
Enacting the Thomas bill would more than double the number of mental health providers available to seniors in Wyoming with the addition of 528 LPCs and 61 MFTs currently licensed to practice in the state.  

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