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Policy Advances

2025

HIGHLIGHTS & ACCOMPLISHMENTS

In Washington, D.C., the Meadows Institute’s trusted relationships across the political spectrum ensured that mental health remained at the forefront of national conversations during a period of significant change. In Texas, we built on a decade of achievement to help the 89th Legislature achieve new record investments in mental health — showing once again how the state leads the nation in expanding access and driving innovation in behavioral health care.

Driving Change in Washington

At the federal level, the Meadows Institute shaped mental health policy to emphasize expanded access to care early — before tragedy strikes — across primary care offices, schools, and community systems serving high-need youth. As the federal policy landscape experienced massive change, the Meadows Institute was uniquely well-positioned to advance priorities valued by both Congress and the White House, to successfully protect and improve the outcomes of critical programs and maintain vital behavioral health funding.

 

The Meadows Institute’s unique positioning within the policy ecosystem — as one of the only behavioral health organizations working at the intersection of policy and practice — has blossomed into a growing leadership role in national policy discussions. Our president and CEO, Andy Keller, was named vice chair of the prestigious CEO Alliance for Mental Health, which represents the leadership of the nation’s top 15 mental health policy and advocacy organizations. Over the course of the year, partners from across the political spectrum, including organizations like the Commonwealth Fund, the Primary Care Collaborative, the Manhattan Institute, the National Center for Quality Assurance, and the Duke-Margolis Institute, joined with the Meadows Institute to educate the public, help shape the national policy narrative and guide policymakers in their decision-making.

 

Policy in Action: Integrating Mental Health Where Care Happens

In March 2025, Senator John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nevada) introduced the COMPLETE Care Act, bipartisan legislation to incentivize the integration of behavioral health and primary care. The COMPLETE Care Act enjoys support from more than 50 national health organizations and advances the priorities of the Trump Administration to support primary care as a cornerstone of our health care delivery system. When enacted, the program will build on other integration resources that the Trump Administration and Congressional appropriators have prioritized in their program design and budgeting.

 

Other important policy highlights include:

 

  • Congress fully funded the Promoting Integration of Primary and Behavioral Health Care (PIPBHC) program, allocating more than $55 million to enable communities nationwide to expand behavioral health integration.
  • Congress reauthorized the SUPPORT Act, including an amendment supported by the Meadows Institute to establish a federal roundtable to expand the use of electronic health records in behavioral health — a long overdue solution to improve coordination of services and improve patient outcomes
  • The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) awarded $37.5 million to help states make behavioral health more accessible, enhance quality of care for adults with serious mental health needs, and upgrade essential technology. 

Turning State Success into National Policy

Amid rapid shifts within the federal policy environment, the Meadows Institute relied on our strong relationships across the political spectrum to translate successful state initiatives into national strategies.

 

  • We helped Texas develop a Rural Health Transformation Plan to promote behavioral health integration and technological innovation in rural communities with $50 billion in new federal funding available for states over five years through the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
  • At the request of the White House Domestic Policy Council, our policy experts shared the Meadows Institute’s proven approach to addressing homelessness in Dallas with senior Administration officials.

D.C. Summit: ‘Bright Spots in Digital Mental Health’

The Meadows Institute advanced new solutions in mental health care at a summit for digital technology, policy, and innovation leaders on Capitol Hill. Sponsored by the Commonwealth Fund, the convening highlighted artificial intelligence (AI) and other emerging tools to improve care quality, speed access to treatment, and support data-driven policy.

“Disruptive innovation in behavioral health isn’t just transforming care – it’s rewriting what’s possible for American lives.”

— John Snook, chief policy officer

In 2025, the Texas Legislature approved $10.41 billion in ongoing funding for behavioral health initiatives across 30 state agencies — a $1 billion increase from the 88th Legislative Session and a 67% increase since 2015.

Texas Leads the Way

The 89th Texas Legislature capped a decade of bipartisan investment in mental health to improve the lives of all Texans. Lawmakers allocated the highest-ever level of sustained funding for mental health programs and enacted policy initiatives to expand access to care, address workforce challenges, and promote proven new approaches to preventing and addressing behavioral health challenges.


Through 10 years of building relationships and sharing expertise with decision makers, the Meadows Institute has ensured that mental health is an integral part of Texas’ ongoing legislative work. For the first time in recent memory, the Texas Legislature prioritized mental health without being prompted by a recent tragedy — before the Central Texas floods prompted a special legislative session, no hurricane, pandemic, or school shooting triggered specific legislation. Instead, lawmakers demonstrated a steadfast commitment to the mental health of Texans through times of calm.

“For too long, mental health was seen as separate from physical health care. Not anymore. Texas has learned that the brain is part of the body, and it must be cared for and treated in the same way we do for any other medical issue such as heart disease or cancer.”

— Andy Keller, president and CEO in an opinion piece in the Dallas Morning News

Investments in Children’s Mental Health
State lawmakers invested $380.8 million in the Texas Child Mental Health Consortium, which improves mental health care for children, adolescents, and pregnant and postpartum women. This funding ensures the continuation of critical initiatives launched by American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding in 2021, which are now embedded in the Consortium’s key programming.

 

Highlights include:

 

  • Texas Child Health Access Through Telemedicine (TCHATT): Enables urgent mental health access through Texas medical schools to over 4.5 million students across 964 school districts in the state (and counting).
  • The Perinatal Psychiatric Access Network (PeriPAN): Provides no-cost clinician-to-clinician consultation for providers serving pregnant and postpartum women who are experiencing mental health concerns.
  • Collaborative Care (CoCM): Expands affordable access to integrated mental health services within the office of a trusted family doctor.

$12.3
Billion

Cumulative Increase in Texas Behavioral Health Funding from 2013-2025

Leading the Fight for Brain Health

The Meadows Institute is helping to put Texas at the forefront of research on devastating neurological disorders, including dementia, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and related disorders. Most notably for our work, depression is a leading risk factor for dementia, making the prevention and treatment of mental illness a critical step in stopping the disease before it starts.


Led by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, the 89th Texas Legislature proposed $3 billion to create and fund the Dementia Prevention Research Institute of Texas (DPRIT) over the next decade. And in November, Texas voters overwhelmingly approved this funding allocation to position Texas at the forefront of work to accelerate scientific breakthroughs and combat these terrible scourges.

From Construction to Care: Funding Hospital Operations
The 89th Texas Legislature marked a pivotal transition — from building new state hospitals and other inpatient facilities to ensuring they are fully staffed and ready to serve Texans. After years of ambitious investments in brick-and-mortar construction — more than $3.6 billion — this session focused on funding operations at these new facilities as centers of excellent community-centered care.

 

In 2025, Texas lawmakers appropriated:

 

  • $165.9 million to staff additional state hospital capacity in Austin, Kerrville, the Rio Grande Valley, Rusk, San Antonio, and Terrell and new facilities in Lubbock and Amarillo.
  • $114.2 million to begin operations at the new Dallas State Hospital.
  • $92.6 million to support community mental health hospitals, including $12.5 million for the Uvalde Behavioral Health Campus. Informed by a Meadows Institute assessment, the Hill Country Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Center will operate the new campus to meet local needs.
  • $6 million to launch a new residential facility in Comal County with 16 beds for people who need short-term stabilization and crisis care.