Plain-English Summary
This bill requires the Rhode Island Medicaid program to provide reimbursement for mental health services delivered by graduate student interns. To qualify, the intern must be in a mental health discipline and formally assigned by an accredited college or university to an agency for clinical training. The legislation allows these interns to be compensated from the reimbursed funds. Additionally, the organization supervising the intern is permitted to keep a portion of the reimbursement to cover the costs associated with supervision. The interns must be on a track toward professional licensure.
This law helps people get mental health support, like talking to a counselor. Sometimes, students who are still in college learning to be counselors need to practice helping people to finish their degrees. This is called an internship. Before this law, the state insurance called Medicaid might not pay for appointments with these students. Now, the law says Medicaid must pay for those visits. It also says the students can get paid for their work, and the offices teaching them can keep some money to pay for the teachers who supervise the students.