The Department of Health and Human Services is launching a campaign to reduce the frequency with which providers prescribe drugs for patients with behavioral health challenges.

The new campaign, announced earlier this week, will seek to analyze prescribing patterns for psychiatric drugs, evaluate those that are and are not effective, and advocate greater use of alternative, non-medication-based treatments.

To support this effort, HHS plans to develop new policies and promote and support more education and outreach.

HHS also has issued two sets guidelines, developed by its Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA):  one is a “dear colleague” letter to the provider community and another addresses the value of non-medication-based treatment.  In addition, the 2026 physician fee schedule offers guidance on how providers can bill Medicare for such non-medication-based treatment.

Learn more about HHS’s new effort to curb what it considers “psychiatric overprescribing” from this HHS news release; the SAMHSA-written “dear colleague” guidance it has sent to the provider community; another SAMHSA memo to the provider community with guidance about medication-assisted treatment; and the Becker’s Hospital Review article “HHS outlines plan to ‘curb psychiatric overprescribing’:  5 things to know.”