Biden signs legislation on mental health care for rural veterans

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Wednesday signed the Sgt. Ketchum Rural Veterans' Mental Health Act to help serve veterans in rural areas who are experiencing mental illness.

The legislation instructs Veterans Affairs to establish three new Rural Access Network for Growth Enhancement programs to serve rural veterans. These programs are designed to support veterans who often are at high risk for housing insecurity and extensive inpatient hospitalization by integrating community, family and financial resources in support of independent living, a news release states.

RANGE teams coordinate each veteran's individual psychiatric and functional services, including individual and family therapy, prescriptions, care-coordination with other medical providers, crisis intervention, recovery program participation, skills training, benefits assistance and rehabilitation counseling. Veterans may be referred to RANGE by VA inpatient and outpatient providers, as well as by community agencies.

"This bill will ensure that our rural veterans, those that were willing to sacrifice all, are taken care of, and I know at my core that this legislation will have positive impacts on our former service members across the state of Ohio," U.S Rep. Tim Ryan of Howland, D-13th, said in a news release.

Ryan, vice chair of the House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee, was in attendance for the bill signing ceremony at the White House. He was an original co-sponsor of the bill.

The legislation also requires the Government Accountability Office to conduct a study and report on whether the VA has sufficient resources to serve rural veterans who need mental health care that is more intensive than traditional outpatient therapy.

This story was originally published July 1, 2021 at 2:45 PM with the headline "Biden signs legislation on mental health care for rural veterans."