S. 1056 — Home-Based Telemental Health Care Act of 2025

This section establishes a grant program to expand and enhance access to mental health and substance use services, delivered via home-based telemental health care by trained professionals (i.e., psychiatrists or qualified mental health professionals), for covered rural populations (i.e., residents of rural health professional shortage areas or persons engaged in farming, fishing, or forestry occupations). Grants are awarded by the HHS Secretary, in consultation with the Department of Agriculture Rural Health Liaison, to public or nonprofit private telemental health provider networks, which must use funds to (1) deliver such services in patients' homes or places of comfort, (2) develop metrics measuring quality and impact relative to in-person care, and (3) support infrastructure including broadband access, patient devices, and provider technology costs. The Secretary must submit reports to congressional committees on program impacts and care quality three years after commencement and biennially thereafter, with up to $10 million authorized for each of FY2025 through FY2029 from available funds.