{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://lance.house.gov/newsroom/press-releases/lance-effort-to-reform-mental-health-care-system-gains-steam", "Lance Effort to Reform Mental Health Care System Gains Steam", "2015-11-04", "2015", "2015-11", "Republican", "House", "NJ", "Leonard Lance", "L000567", "lance.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "WASHINGTON, D.C. --- Congressman Leonard Lance (NJ-07) tonight helped secure passage of a major overhaul of the countrys mental care system in the House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee. Lance is an original cosponsor of the Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act which now advances to the full Committee for further consideration.\nMental health is another tenet in our work to tackle our many public health challenges. For more than a year we have conducted an extensive review of our Nations mental health system to outline ways to improve care, expand access and close the gaps that are currently letting too many fall through the cracks. This is the next step in the legislative process and in building a broad bipartisan coalition to fix our broken mental health care system. There are more issues to address in the coming weeks, said Lance, a member of the Subcommittee after the 12 hour session. \nLance is an original cosponsor of Congressman Tim Murphy (PA-18)s Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act (H.R. 2646). The measure builds on reforms included in Lances 2014 legislation that put community mental health centers on more equal footing with other health centers by improving quality standards and expanding access. H.R. 2646 takes a clinical approach to supporting families and individuals undergoing sudden or long-term mental health crises.The bill targets programming and resources on psychiatric care for patients and families most in need of services by increasing inpatient and outpatient treatment options. It also makes judicial reforms by clarifying standards used to commit an individual to medical care and updates legal framework to help families and physicians make informed decisions.The bill views those who need care through the mental health lens, not just through the criminal justice system.The legislation also fixes patient access problems in the Part D program and Medicaid.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["http://lance.house.gov/newsroom/press-releases/lance-effort-to-reform-mental-health-care-system-gains-steam"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.556267961859703, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}