Summary/Abstract

The Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act would potentially address a nationwide shortage of psychiatric beds and child psychiatrists, in addition to creating the federal position of assistant secretary for mental health.

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A bill that would majorly reform mental health care in the United States cleared the U.S. House of Representatives 422-2 on Wednesday. Now, legislators are calling for the immediate passage of a similar bill in the Senate.

The Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act, introduced by Rep. Tim Murphy (R-PA), a licensed child psychologist, would potentially address a nationwide shortage of psychiatric beds and child psychiatrists, in addition to creating the federal position of assistant secretary for mental health and substance use disorders, to be filled by a licensed psychiatrist or psychologist and take over the responsibilities of the administrator of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

“This historic vote closes a tragic chapter in our nation’s treatment of serious mental illness and welcomes a new dawn of help and hope,” Murphy said in a news release Wednesday. “We are ending the era of stigma. Mental illness is no longer a joke, considered a moral defect and a reason to throw people in jail.”

The bill, first introduced in 2013 following the shooting at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, hosts 207 bipartisan cosponsors. It was unanimously approved by the Energy and Commerce Committee last month

Following the bill’s House approval, U.S. Senators Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and Bill Cassidy (R-La.), co-authors of the similar Mental Health Reform Act, which also has bipartisan support, called on the Senate to vote on their bill. They said in a joint statement Wednesday that the House bill “isn’t perfect, but the fact that it passed overwhelmingly is proof that there’s broad, bipartisan support for fixing our broken mental health system.”

The American Psychiatric Association is urging that The Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act be approved by the Senate before the end of the year, though the organization said in a statement Wednesday that it endorses both the House and Senate measures.

Murphy’s Crisis Mental Health Bill Passes House 

Near Unanimous Vote in favor of H.R. 2646, the Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act

For Immediate Release: July 6, 2016
Contact: Murphy Press 202.225.2301

(WASHINGTON, DC) – Congressman Tim Murphy’s Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act (H.R. 2646) passed the House on Wednesday, July 6th, 2016.

“This historic vote closes a tragic chapter in our nation’s treatment of serious mental illness and welcomes a new dawn of help and hope,” said Congressman Murphy. “We are ending the era of stigma. Mental illness is no longer a joke, considered a moral defect and a reason to throw people in jail. No longer will we discharge the mentally ill out of the emergency room to the family and say ‘Good luck, take care of your loved one, we’ve done all the law will allow.’ Today the House voted to deliver treatment before tragedy.”

Considered the most comprehensive reform of the mental health system in the past half century, the bill earned 207 bipartisan cosponsors in advance of the historic vote on the House Floor and garnered endorsements from news outlets, mental health advocates, physicians and families of individuals with mental illness from across the country. 

The Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act focuses resources where they are most needed to foster evidence-based care, fix the shortage of psychiatric hospital beds, empower caregivers under HIPAA privacy laws to allow for compassionate communication, bring accountability to mental health spending and help patients get treatment well before their illness spirals into crisis.

In the wake of the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, Congressman Murphy led the multi-year effort to reform the nation’s failing mental health care system. The Energy and Commerce Committee took the historic step last month by passing Congressman Murphy's legislation by a unanimous vote of 53-0 and set the stage for the vote today on the floor to overhaul the failed system for the first time in more than half a century. 

“To every family member, the tens of thousands who reached out to me, who stepped forward to share their story and be a voice for change, my deepest gratitude for your courageous stand to help families in mental health crisis,” said Murphy. 

The Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act, H.R. 2646 passed with a near unanimous vote of 422-2. The overwhelming vote in the House is expected to break the logjam on considering mental health reform legislation in the Senate. Murphy pledged to continue working the bill all the way to the President’s desk for signature.