; Whereas there is a need for greater collaboration between Federal, State, and local departments that touches on various aspects of the health care system; Whereas there is a need for one centralized location within the Federal Government for good, reliable information on mental health and substance use disorders for providers, patients, and caregivers; Whereas there is a need for standardized definitions, standards of care, and metrics for mental health and substance use disorders across disciplines; Whereas there is a need to change incentives for providers to better ensure everyone with mental health and substance use disorders needs gets access to the necessary care and treatment; Whereas the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equality Act has been in effect since 2008, and 12 years later there is still a lack of compliance among insurers not adequately covering mental health and substance use disorder services; Whereas Medicaid is the single largest payer of mental health and substance use disorder services, and reimbursement is far from adequate; Whereas there is a need to incentivize payers to adequately cover mental health and substance use disorder services in the same manner that all specialty services are covered; Whereas there is a need to increase the number of mental health and substance use disorder providers; Whereas 55 percent of counties in the United States do not have a single psychiatrist, psychologist, or social worker; Whereas only 10 percent of people suffering from a substance use disorder receive specialty treatment; Whereas there is a need to increase access and utilization to telemedicine for mental health and substance use disorder services both within States and across State lines; Whereas patient privacy needs to be protected, but there needs to be a better way to share information among providers to better serve the patient’s needs