Healthcare (Mental Health)

This bill is a House resolution that officially designates May 2026 as Mental Health Month in Kentucky. It calls on citizens, government agencies, businesses, and schools to increase awareness and understanding of mental health during that month. The resolution does not create new laws or funding but serves as a symbolic declaration to promote mental wellness and community support. It directs the House Clerk to send a copy of the resolution to Representative Lisa Willner for record-keeping purposes.

Create new sections of KRS Chapter 367 to protect consumers using mental health chatbots; define terms; establish prohibitions and exceptions for how suppliers are to handle individually identifiable health information; prohibit supplier from advertising a specific product or service unless that product or service is clearly and conspicuously disclosed; require supplier to clearly and conspicuously disclose that the mental health chatbot is artificial intelligence and provide when this disclosure should appear; provide an affirmative defense to liability and list requirements to achieve that defense; grant enforcement authority to the Attorney General; include severability provision; provide that the Act may be cited as the Artificial Intelligence in Mental Health Act.

Create a new section of Subtitle 17A of KRS Chapter 304 to define terms; require health plans to provide coverage for an annual mental health wellness examination provided by a mental health professional; require the coverage to be no less extensive than coverage for medical and surgical benefits, comply with the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008, and not be subject to any cost-sharing requirements; amend KRS 304.17C-125, 164.2871, and 18A.225 to require limited health service benefit plans, self-insured employer group health plans provided by the governing board of a state postsecondary education institution, and the state employee health plan to comply with the mental health wellness examination coverage requirement; state purpose of the Act; direct that provisions apply to health plans issued or renewed on or after the effective date of the Act; provide that Section 1 of the Act may be cited as the Kentucky Mental Health Wellness Act; EFFECTIVE, January 1, 2027.

Amend KRS 304.17A-660 to define "health professional"; amend KRS 304.17A-661 to require that annual mental health parity reports be submitted to the Legislative Research Commission on or before June 1 of each year for referral to certain committees and be published by the insurance commissioner on the Department of Insurance's website; require insurers to have an independent audit conducted to evaluate mental health parity compliance upon request of the commissioner or Attorney General; require the commissioner to establish and operate a hotline that allows health professionals and insureds to submit complaints regarding mental health parity compliance; prohibit insurers from retaliating against a health professional for submitting a complaint; authorize the Attorney General to enforce the mental health parity law; establish duties, remedies, and penalties for enforcement by the Attorney General; authorize a private cause of action by any person directly injured by a violation or likely violation of the mental health parity law; establish duties, remedies, and penalties for a private right of action under the mental health parity law; establish construction clauses; authorize the Attorney General to promulgate administrative regulations for proper enforcement of mental health parity law; create a new section of KRS 304.17A-660 to 304.17A-669 to establish requirements for review criteria used by insurers to determine the medical necessity and appropriateness of a claim submitted for the diagnosis or treatment of a mental health condition; require that the review criteria be publicly available on the insurer's website; require insurers to comply with KRS 304.17A-600 to 304.17A-633 with respect to claims submitted by health professionals for the diagnosis of treatment of mental health conditions except as provided in the section; amend KRS 304.17A-617 and 304.17A-623 to conform; amend KRS 205.522 to require the Department for Medicaid Services, Medicaid managed care organizations, and the state' medical assistance program to comply with mental health parity law; require the Department for Medicaid Services or the Cabinet for Health and Family Services to obtain federal approval, if necessary, and comply with notice requirements; provide authorization from the General Assembly to make changes as required under KRS 205.5372(1); EFFECTIVE, in part, January 1, 2027; EMERGENCY.

Create a new section of KRS Chapter 200 to define terms; establish procedures for a child charged with a public offense or subject to a court order to determine if the child is a high acuity youth; establish procedures for securing a treatment plan, and dispute resolution through a review process and the court if the parties cannot agree to a plan; require a 24-hour protocol for health facilities, the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, the Department of Juvenile Justice, and the courts to direct care; establish reimbursement rates for inpatient and outpatient psychiatric care of a child by psychiatric hospitals and pediatric teaching hospitals; establish procedures for discharge of the child from inpatient admission under specific circumstances.

Direct the Legislative Research Commission to establish the Mental Health Alternative Community Response Model Task Force; establish task force membership; require the task force to study and make recommendations to identify programs, initiatives, and opportunities in the Commonwealth for alternative response services for communities related to mental health for Kentuckians and submit a report with recommendations to the Legislative Research Commission by December 1, 2026.

Amend KRS 156.070 to require the Kentucky Board of Education or any agency designated to manage interscholastic athletics to train administrators and coaches on how to prevent suicide.

Create a new section of Subtitle 17A of KRS Chapter 304 to define terms; require health benefit plans to provide coverage for counseling interventions for pregnant and postpartum persons at increased risk of perinatal depression, including persons who have suffered a miscarriage or stillbirth; suspend the coverage requirement's application to qualified health plans if the state would be required to make cost defrayal payments; amend KRS 304.17A-099 to conform; amend KRS 205.522, 205.6485, 164.2871, and 18A.225 to require Medicaid, the Kentucky Children's Health Insurance Program, self-insured employer plans provided by the governing board of a state postsecondary education institution, and the state employee health plan to comply with the coverage requirement for counseling interventions; provide that certain provisions apply to health benefit plans issued or renewed on or after January 1, 2027; require the Cabinet for Health and Family Services or Department for Medicaid Services to obtain federal approval if it is determined that such approval is necessary and comply with notice requirements; provide authorization from the General Assembly to make changes in the Medicaid program as required under KRS 205.5372(1); EFFECTIVE, in part, January 1, 2027.

HB 369 adds post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as a qualifying condition for veterans to access hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) in Kentucky. It amends state law to allow veterans diagnosed with PTSD - confirmed by a treating health care provider - to receive HBOT, expanding eligibility beyond traumatic brain injury. The bill requires written informed consent from veterans or their legal guardians, detailing treatment options, potential outcomes, and financial responsibility for the therapy. This policy change directly affects Kentucky veterans with PTSD seeking this specific medical treatment option.

Create a new section of KRS 304.17A-660 to 304.17A-669 to define "psychiatric collaborative care model"; require the commissioner of insurance to promulgate and maintain an administrative regulation to list alterations and additions to relevant billing codes; require health benefit plans that provide coverage for treatment of a mental health condition to provide reimbursement for those benefits that are delivered through the psychiatric collaborative care model; authorize insurers to deny any benefit billed under a covered billing code on grounds of medical necessity if certain conditions are met; apply requirement to health benefit plans issued, delivered, or renewed on or after January 1, 2027; require the Department of Insurance to seek a federal waiver if cost defrayal is determined.