Congress funds telemental health for rural America's forgotten mental health crisis

What it does

This bill creates a federal grant program to fund telemental health services delivered to patients in their homes, targeting rural areas with mental health shortages and workers in farming, fishing, and forestry. Eligible nonprofits and public telemental health networks can receive grants to expand remote mental health and substance-use care, improve broadband access, provide devices, and measure outcomes—with up to $10 million per year authorized through 2029.

Why we flagged it

The bill's sole operative mechanism is a grant program to expand telemental health services to underserved rural populations and occupational groups. It is a straightforward public-health infrastructure measure with no hidden provisions or narrow beneficiaries.

What the text implies

• Broadband expansion funded through this program may have spillover benefits for rural broadband access beyond mental health, potentially improving digital equity in rural areas.
• Outcome measurement requirement (subsection d) creates a data foundation for future policy decisions on telemental health effectiveness, potentially influencing Medicare/Medicaid reimbursement models.
• Program targets farming/fishing/forestry workers specifically, recognizing occupational mental health crises (agricultural suicide, occupational stress) that are often invisible in standard rural health metrics.

Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.

Who it affects

Rural and occupationally isolated populations gain expanded access to mental health and substance-use services at no direct cost to them; the program funds infrastructure (broadband, devices, provider technology) that removes barriers to care. The bill includes outcome measurement to ensure quality and effectiveness.

Who stands to gain

• Public and nonprofit telemental health provider networks
• Rural broadband infrastructure providers (indirect, through grant-funded expansion)
• Technology vendors supplying devices and platforms to eligible entities

Named in the bill

Department of Health and Human Services (Secretary), Health Resources and Services Administration (Office of Rural Health Policy), Department of Agriculture (Rural Health Liaison), Public Health Service Act (Title III), Department of Labor (Standard Occupational Classification System)

Where it stands

3 cosponsors: 2 Republicans, 1 Democrats.

• Mar 13, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
• Mar 13, 2025 — Referred to Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions”

Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.

Money around this bill

1 lobbying clients named this bill on 1 disclosure filings across 1 quarter, Dec 2025 to Dec 2025. Those filings disclosed $82,741 in lobbying spend. A filing names 20 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.

More lobbying clients named this bill than 0% of bills with at least one filing.

Mike Rounds, the sponsor, reported $1,681,790 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.

• National Council for Behavioral Health — $82,741 on 1 filing

Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jan 12, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.