NABH Member Hosts Congressional Site Visit

NABH member Signature Healthcare Services’ Aurora San Diego hospital recently hosted Rep. Scott Peters (D-Calif.), who toured the facility and met with hospital leaders to discuss some the biggest challenges facing the behavioral healthcare industry.

Aurora San Diego provides mental health and substance abuse services both on an inpatient and outpatient basis for children, adolescents, adults and older adults. Aurora also has a highly regarded military treatment program for active duty members who are working through combat-related trauma, general mental health issues and substance use disorders.

Rep. Peters and hospital leaders discussed addressing the opioid crisis and removing some outdated federal barriers to care, including the Institutions for Mental Diseases (IMD) exclusion that prevents adult Medicaid beneficiaries from accessing acute care in facilities with more than 16 beds, and Medicare’s 190-day lifetime limit on inpatient care in a psychiatric hospital.

Following his tour, Rep. Peters hosted a Town Hall-style meeting with about 50 Aurora employees from across all disciplines to discuss the need for more resources to address mental health for service members and veterans.

For information and help coordinating a congressional site visit, please contact Julia E. Richardson, NABH’s director of advocacy and senior counsel, at julia@nabh.org.