PlainBillCongress, translated.Legislation. Context. Public interest.Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
Congressional Research Service
No official summary is available in the imported record yet.
People & committees
Rep. Goldman, Daniel S. [D-NY-10] · D–NY
Legislative record
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Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Primary sources
Text links open the official source. We also preserved the text version used in the PlainBill explanation below.
Source last updated: Sep 28, 2026. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
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PlainBill explanation
Based on the full Introduced in House · 2026-09-03 text. This explanation has not received human editorial review. This overview describes the proposal’s major provisions; it does not establish what its real-world effects would be.
The proposed Supporting 9–8–8 Crisis Stabilization Act would exclude four types of mental health and crisis-care providers from Medicaid’s category called an “institution for mental diseases.” The change would affect how qualifying providers are classified under Medicaid. Crisis stabilization facilities would have to meet service and access requirements. The supplied text does not establish that every service at these facilities would qualify for Medicaid payment.
This Act may be cited as the Supporting 9–8–8 Crisis Stabilization Act.
the term institution for mental diseases does not include— (A) a clinic certified by the State as a certified community behavioral health clinic for purposes of participating in a demonstration program conducted under section 223(d) of the Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014; (B) a community mental health center that meets the criteria specified in section 1913(c) of the Public Health Service Act; (C) a crisis receiving and stabilization facility (as defined in subsection (ll)(1)); or (D) a mental health and substance use urgent care facility (as defined in subsection (ll)(2)).
the term crisis receiving and stabilization facility means a facility that— (A) is licensed or certified to furnish crisis response services under applicable State law; (B) is available to provide services 24 hours a day and 7 days a week;
The proposed exclusion would cover clinics certified by the state as certified community behavioral health clinics for purposes of participating in the specified demonstration program, and community mental health centers meeting the referenced federal criteria. The text does not separately require actual participation in the demonstration program. Those outside statutory criteria are not reproduced in the bill.
(A) a clinic certified by the State as a certified community behavioral health clinic for purposes of participating in a demonstration program conducted under section 223(d) of the Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014; (B) a community mental health center that meets the criteria specified in section 1913(c) of the Public Health Service Act;
A qualifying crisis receiving and stabilization facility would need state licensing or certification and round-the-clock availability. It would have to provide at least 23 hours of observation and assessment, followed by 48 hours of crisis stabilization, including withdrawal management and continuous medical monitoring. Its average stay would have to remain below 150 hours; this is an average, not a stated limit on each patient's stay.
(A) is licensed or certified to furnish crisis response services under applicable State law; (B) is available to provide services 24 hours a day and 7 days a week; (C) provides patients with, at a minimum, 23 hours of observation and assessment services, followed by 48 hours of crisis stabilization services (including withdrawal management and 24-hour medical monitoring);
(G) maintains an average length of stay of less than 150 hours.
To qualify, a crisis receiving and stabilization facility could not deny or limit services because of a patient's ability to pay, residence, prior criminal justice involvement, severity of a mental health or substance use condition, intellectual or developmental disability, age, or related factors.
(D) does not deny or limit services on the basis of a patient’s ability to pay, place of residence, prior engagement with the criminal justice system, acuity of mental health or substance use condition, intellectual or developmental disability, age, or related factors;
Qualifying crisis receiving and stabilization facilities would also have to discount fees according to patients' ability to pay and accept referrals from law enforcement officers, emergency medical personnel, and family members.
(E) applies a schedule of discounts to the payment of fees or charges for the provision of its services, which are adjusted on the basis of the patient’s ability to pay; (F) accepts patient referrals from law enforcement officers, emergency medical personnel, and family members;
The other newly defined provider category would cover mental health and substance use urgent care facilities where people experiencing a mental or behavioral health crisis can walk in without an appointment for assessment, crisis intervention, medication, and connections to appropriate services.
the term mental health and substance use urgent care facility means a facility where individuals experiencing a mental or behavioral health crisis may walk in without an appointment to receive crisis assessment services, crisis intervention services, medication, and connection to other appropriate services.
The four provider categories would be excluded from the Medicaid definition beginning the day after enactment, if the proposal becomes law.
(2) Beginning the day after the date of the enactment of this paragraph, the term institution for mental diseases does not include—
The Secretary of Health and Human Services would have to issue implementation guidance to states within 180 days after enactment.
Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this section, the Secretary of Health and Human Services shall issue guidance to States relating to the implementation of the amendments made by subsection (a).
Within one year after enactment, the Secretary would have to report to Congress in collaboration with the Attorney General and any other federal officials the Secretary considers relevant. The report would cover crisis stabilization facility use after enactment, including patient numbers, services and their duration, outpatient referrals, law enforcement referral trends, and information relevant to diverting emergencies from law enforcement response.
Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this section, the Secretary, in collaboration with the Attorney General and any other relevant Federal officials (as determined by the Secretary), shall submit to Congress a report
(A) Information with respect to the utilization of crisis receiving and stabilization facilities during the period following such date of enactment, including— (i) the number of patients served; (ii) the type and duration of facility-based services; (iii) the number of referrals to community-based outpatient care; (iv) any trends observed in referrals made by law enforcement agencies to such facilities; and (v) any other data relevant to assessing the ability for these facilities to divert mental health and substance use disorder emergencies from law enforcement response.
The report would also examine associations between access to qualifying crisis facilities and reduced hospital emergency-room admissions, admissions and readmissions to psychiatric hospitals and other institutions for mental diseases, and lower incarceration rates in state or county facilities. For psychiatric and other mental-institution admissions and readmissions, the source uses the unclear word “adverted”; no direction of change is inferred for that item. These are questions for analysis, not established results of the proposal.
(B) An analysis of the extent to which access to crisis receiving and stabilization facilities is associated with— (i) reduced admissions to hospital emergency rooms; (ii) adverted admissions and readmissions to psychiatric hospitals and other facilities defined as Institutions for Mental Diseases; and (iii) decreased rates of incarceration in penal facilities operated by a State or county.
In this subsection, the term crisis receiving and stabilization facility has the meaning given such term in subsection (ll) of section 1905 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1396d).
The supplied actions snapshot, updated September 28, 2026, records introduction in the House and referral to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce on September 3, 2026. It does not establish subsequent legislative action or enactment.
Source snapshot updated 2026-09-28T21:56:11Z. 2026-09-03: Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. 2026-09-03: Introduced in House
A closer look
Reviewed version: Introduced in House · 2026-09-03. These findings describe provisions and who may benefit; they are not judgments of waste, corruption, or motive.
This review covers the supplied bill text. “None identified” does not rule out provisions in later versions or accompanying reports and disclosures.
Provisions outside the bill’s main subject, or policy changes attached to appropriations.
None identified in the reviewed text
No unrelated provision or policy change attached to appropriations was identified in the complete supplied introduced text. This conclusion does not cover other versions or accompanying materials.
Spending directed to particular recipients or places outside ordinary competitive or formula-based allocation.
None identified in the reviewed text
No congressionally directed spending for particular recipients or places was identified in the complete supplied introduced text. This conclusion does not establish the absence of earmarks in other versions or accompanying materials.
Narrow exceptions, exemptions, or preferential treatment that warrant a closer look.
None identified in the reviewed text
No materially narrow preference beyond the main policy's generally defined provider eligibility was identified in the complete supplied introduced text. This conclusion does not cover other versions or accompanying materials.
Full text preserved for this analysis. Legislative record snapshot: Sep 28, 2026. How PlainBill uses AI