Week ahead: Mental health debate moves to Congress

President Obama's proposals to reduce gun violence sparked new debate on how to strengthen the U.S. mental health system. After inauguration festivities conclude, Congress will pick up the baton with several hearings this week.

The House Democratic Gun Violence Prevention Task Force will host a briefing and panel discussion Tuesday afternoon designed to look comprehensively at the U.S. mental health system. Staff members said the event would focus on issues of funding, research, prevention and intervention.

Pamela Hyde, administrator of the Substance and Mental Health Services Administration; Dr. Thomas Insel, director of the National Institute of Mental Health; and several other leaders are scheduled to participate. 

Senators will have the opportunity to weigh in Thursday, when both Hyde and Insel return to Capitol Hill for a hearing at the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee.

"The hearing will provide senators an opportunity to examine the most pressing problems in our mental health system, including a need to focus on prevention and early intervention," a HELP planning memo said last week.

Health policy leaders also will turn their focus to Medicaid.

On Wednesday, the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network will release opinion polling on the Affordable Care Act's Medicaid expansion.

The Kaiser Family Foundation's Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured will also hold an event Wednesday, releasing its 12th annual snapshot of state-by-state Medicaid and CHIP policy.

The policy briefing and accompanying panel discussion will examine how some states have begun to overhaul their Medicaid enrollment systems with an eye on the health law's expansion of the program.

Kaiser will hold another event Thursday when it releases a survey on voters' health policy priorities for the 113th Congress and President Obama's second term. Researchers from Kaiser and the Harvard School of Public Health will present the findings.

Back on Capitol Hill, the House Energy and Commerce Committee has a full day planned for Tuesday, when it considers several bills, three related to healthcare: H.R. 297, to reauthorize a program that supports medical residency programs in children's hospitals; H.R. 235, to make it easier for some military veterans to become emergency medical technicians; and H.R. 225, to allow the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to fund pediatric research networks.

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