Relating to requiring contracts with Medicaid managed care organizations to permit the organizations to offer certain mental health or substance use services or food and nutrition assistance services in lieu of other state Medicaid plan services.

SB 1753 requires Texas Medicaid managed care organizations (MCOs) to include in their contracts language permitting them to offer certain mental health, substance use, or food/nutrition assistance services as alternatives to standard Medicaid services. This applies to services approved by the state Medicaid advisory committee and listed in the contract, but recipients are not required to use these alternatives. The bill mandates an annual report tracking how often these alternative services are used and requires the state to consider actual costs of these services when setting MCO payment rates. The law takes effect September 1, 2025, for new or renewed contracts.