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Read. Follow. Verify.Idaho establishes Assertive Community Treatment programs under Medicaid for individuals with severe mental illness
Last action · February 24, 2026: Reported Printed and Referred to Health & Welfare
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What This Bill Proposed
ASSERTIVE COMMUNITY TREATMENT – Adds to existing law to provide legislative approval for and to establish provisions regarding assertive community treatment.
The measure restructures delivery and Medicaid funding for intensive mental health care in the state, directly affecting adults with severe functional impairments who experience frequent hospitalizations, crisis interventions, or incarceration.
Who It Would Have Affected
Groups the bill's text would have affected, as described in the record. Being affected is not a position for or against it.
Individuals with serious and persistent mental illness
Eligible individuals receive intensive 24/7 multidisciplinary community-based treatment, support, and rehabilitative services.
Idaho Department of Health and Welfare
The department is tasked with submitting the state plan amendment, administering programs, promulgating rules, and overseeing fidelity standards.
Assertive community treatment provider teams
Provider teams must meet specific staffing compositions, participant ratios, fidelity score thresholds, and single-unit billing structures.
Key Facts
- The Department of Health and Welfare must submit a state plan amendment for Assertive Community Treatment to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services no later than March 1, 2026.
- ACT services must be available twenty-four hours per day, seven days per week, delivering integrated psychiatric, medical, and substance use support primarily in community-based settings.
- Eligible participants must have a primary diagnosis of a serious and persistent mental illness with significant functional impairment and a history of frequent crisis service use, hospitalizations, or incarceration.
- The participant-to-staff ratio for ACT teams is mandated to be ten to one, and shall not exceed twelve participants to one staff person.
Show all 8 facts
- Provider teams must achieve an initial minimum fidelity score of 3.0 on an approved measurement tool and reach a minimum score of 4.0 within three years of initial certification.
- Medicaid reimbursement for ACT services is structured as a single monthly service unit per enrolled participant, inclusive of all rehabilitative services, outreach, travel, and crisis response.
- One ACT provider shall be selected per region to ensure service delivery through a single integrated interdisciplinary team.
- A participant cannot be discharged solely for treatment non-compliance, but may be relocated or discharged under specific conditions such as moving out of the area, long-term hospitalization exceeding thirty days, or exhibiting violent conduct toward team members.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is eligible for Assertive Community Treatment services?
How are ACT services funded and reimbursed under Medicaid?
Can a participant be discharged from the program for failing to follow their treatment plan?
What else do you want to know?
News Coverage
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Votes, people, money & the original sourceWhere This Stands
This bill did not become law - Died at adjournment · in House committee.
Procedural history
2 actions- Feb 24, 2026CommitteeReported Printed and Referred to Health & Welfare
- Feb 23, 2026IntroducedIntroduced, read first time, referred to JRA for Printing
Version history
Only one version on file - nothing to compare yet. As later stages (committee substitute, engrossed, enrolled) are captured, the redline appears here.
View official text →Lobbying Activity
No state lobbying filings in our records match this bill. Federal lobbying reports (LDA) cover Congress, so they are not listed on state bills.
Full breakdown
Who this bill affects and the strongest case for and against it, written only from the bill’s own text.
Discoveries
Patterns POLISCOPE noticed across the record. These are observations to investigate, not conclusions.
Establishment of Single Regional Provider Model
The legislation mandates that Assertive Community Treatment services be delivered through a single integrated team per region, prohibiting fragmented delivery across multiple entities.
Connected Entities
Sources
legislature.idaho.gov
Analysis Score
0–100- Significance20Lowered because this bill did not pass (its text scored 85)
- Controversy20Intensity of disagreement among stakeholders
- Entertainment5Compellingness for a non-policy-wonk reader
- Buzz40Current news / social attention level
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