Federal Advocacy for Access to Treatment-Resistant Depression Care

NAMI Montana has been a strong advocate for better care for treatment-resistant depression for years, especially after the loss of our dear friend and ally Mike Franklin. This category of depression affects roughly 30% of people with depression. It basically describes a depression whose symptoms do not get better after traditional therapy and standard medications. You can find more specifics on the standard diagnosis and treatment algorithm in the DOD/VA's Depression Treatment Guidelines.

People with treatment resistant depression are highly at risk for suicide. The next steps of care for treatment resistant depression are often either transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) or electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). 

NAMI Montana successfully advocated for reimbursement for transcranial magnetic stimulation coverage by Montana Medicaid and also successfully advocated for expanding care for veterans with treatment-resistant depression in Section 401 of the Guaranteeing Healthcare Access to Personnel Who Served Act (GHAPS Act) which we worked on with Senator Jerry Moran of Kansas.

This spring we have been working to lay the foundations Montanans with treatment resistant depression to access the latest version of TMS that is FDA-approved and beginning to roll out around the country. The program is called “Stanford Accelerated Intelligent Neuromodulation Therapy" (SAINT). NAMI Montana has been following SAINT's development for years in Brain and Behavior Research Foundation updates. We are really excited to have the program being offered commercially through Magnus Medical.  

Our main advocacy work to lay the foundations for SAINT in Montana has been with Senator Steve Daines due to his critical role on the Senate Finance Committee. Senator Daines's staff member Grace Bruno has been amazing to work with and has opened the doors to the offices of several other Senate Republican on the Finance Committee. This is a long-term effort with a lot of bureacratic hurdles to overcome, but we are really excited about the momentum and grateful to Senator Daines' team for pushing the issue forward.

Thanks to all of our generous supporters that make this work possible.

We look forward to sharing future updates on this effort at www.namimt.org