Tennessee Medicaid Requests Federal Match For IMD Services For People With SMI Or Youth With SED

TennCare, Tennessee’s Medicaid program recently, released a proposed Medicaid 1115 waiver amendment to cover mental health treatment provided by institutions for mental diseases (IMDs) to beneficiaries under age 65. An IMD is defined as any inpatient or residential setting with more than 16 beds that provides mental health or addiction treatment. Through this amendment to its TennCare III demonstration, the state seeks to cover IMD services for beneficiaries with serious mental illness (SMI) or youth with serious emotional disturbance (SED). The state has previously covered these services with state general funds.

The state released the proposed waiver on October . . .