IMD Waivers Change The Behavioral Health Treatment Landscape – In Some States

On November 9, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) approved the District of Columbia’s 1115 waiver, Behavioral Health Transformation. The approval is noteworthy because it is the first to receive approval to provide psychiatric and addiction treatment covered by Medicaid in an institution for mental disease (IMD) under the guidance released by CMS in November 2018 (see CMS Approves D.C. Medicaid Payment For IMD Services).

As a reminder, IMD is a Medicaid-specific term that refers to residential or inpatient facilities with more than 16 beds in which individuals are primarily receiving care for a “mental . . .