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To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to include peer support services at certain facilities under the Medicare program.
Summary
This bill would add peer support services to the Medicare program, beginning January 1, 2027. Peer support services would be covered when furnished by community mental health centers, rural health clinics, Federally qualified health centers, or certified community behavioral health clinics to individuals with mental health or substance use disorders. The bill defines peer support services as emotional, informational, instrumental, and social support designed to help individuals achieve recovery, community integration, self-empowerment, and self-determination. Peer support specialists must be individuals who are themselves recovering from a mental health or substance use condition and are certified according to national practice guidelines and standards. The bill specifies that Medicare will not cover peer support services provided outside of these designated facility types.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Sponsor (1)
1 cosponsor
- Sen. Cassidy, Bill [R-LA] (R-LA)
Actions (2)
- Dec 17, 2025 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance. · senate
- Dec 17, 2025 Introduced in Senate
Similar bills (6)
Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.
Full text
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
December 17, 2025
Ms. Cortez Masto (for herself and Mr. Cassidy) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance
A BILL
To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to include peer support services at certain facilities under the Medicare program.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the “Promoting Effective and Empowering Recovery Services in Medicare Act of 2025” or the “PEERS Act of 2025”.
SEC. 2. INCLUSION OF PEER SUPPORT SERVICES AT CERTAIN FACILITIES UNDER THE MEDICARE PROGRAM.
(a) Services.—
(1) Inclusion at community mental health centers.—Section 1832(a)(2)(J) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395k(a)(2)(J)) is amended by striking “and intensive outpatient services” and all that follows through the period at the end and inserting “, intensive outpatient services, and peer support services (as defined in section 1861(nnn)(1)) provided by a community mental health center (as defined in section 1861(ff)(3)(B)).”.
(2) Inclusion as rhc and fqhc services.—Section 1861(aa)(1)(B) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395x(aa)(1)(B)) is amended—
(A) by striking “or by a mental” and inserting “by a mental”; and
(B) by inserting “or by a peer support specialist (as defined in subsection (nnn)(2))” after “subsection (ll)(4)),”.
(b) Definition.—Section 1861 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395x) is amended by adding at the end the following new subsection: “(nnn) Peer Support Services and Peer Support Specialist.—
“(1) Peer support services.—The term ‘peer support services’ means emotional, informational, instrumental, and social and community support services—
“(A) furnished—
“(i) by a Federally qualified health center, a rural health clinic, a community mental health center, or a certified community behavioral health clinic (as described in section 223 of the Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014), using a peer support specialist; and
“(ii) to an individual who has been diagnosed with a mental health condition or substance use disorder; and
“(B) that are designed to assist such individual in achieving recovery, integration in the community, self-empowerment, and self-determination (as specified by the Secretary).
“(2) Peer support specialist.—The term ‘peer support specialist’ means an individual who—
“(A) is recovering from a mental health or substance use condition; and
“(B) is certified as qualified to furnish peer support services under a certification process consistent with the National Practice Guidelines for Peer Supporters and inclusive of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration Core Competencies for Peer Workers in Behavioral Health Settings (as established by the State in which such individual furnishes such services or under such certification process determined appropriate by the Secretary).”.
(c) Exclusion Modification.—Section 1862(a)(1) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395y(a)(1)) is amended—
(1) in subparagraph (O), by striking “and” at the end;
(2) in subparagraph (P), by striking the semicolon at the end and inserting “, and”; and
(3) by adding at the end the following new subparagraph:
“(Q) in the case of peer support services (as defined in section 1861(nnn(1))), which are not furnished by a rural health clinic, a Federally qualified health center, a community mental health center, or a certified community behavioral health clinic (as described in section 223 of the Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014);”.
(d) Effective Date.—The amendments made by this section shall apply to items and services furnished on or after January 1, 2027. <all>
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