The Medicaid Institutions for Mental Diseases (IMD) exclusion prevents adult Medicaid beneficiaries (ages 21-64) from accessing short-term, acute behavioral health care in psychiatric hospitals and other residential treatment facilities with more than 16 beds. Eliminating the IMD exclusion would give states flexibility to contract with cost-effective, efficient, and high-quality treatment programs, which would help lower costs and increase access.
News Release
NABH issued a news release about the need for wider access to behavioral healthcare services in the United States after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported this…