1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Enhance Access to Support Essential Behavioral Health Services Act or the EASE Behavioral Health Services Act . 2. Findings Congress finds as follows: (1) Nearly 18 percent of adults in the United States reported a mental, behavioral, or emotional disorder in 2015. (2) Children are also significantly impacted. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1 in 6 children ages 2 years through 8 years have a diagnosed mental, behavioral, or developmental disorder, indicating that disorders begin in early childhood and affect lifelong health. (3) Moreover, 1 in 7 children and adolescents have at least one treatable mental health disorder. (4) There is a critical link between mental health and substance use disorders. According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 1 in 4 adults with severe mental illness had a substance use disorder in 2017. (5) Moreover, children who have had a major depressive episode are more than twice as likely to use illicit drugs. (6) In 2017, approximately 19.7 million people aged 12 years or older had a substance use disorder related to their use of alcohol or illicit drugs in the past year. (7) Despite this overwhelming need, access to behavioral health services remains among the most pressing health care challenges in our country. (8) An estimated 56 percent of Americans with a mental health disorder did not receive treatment in 2017. (9) Similarly, half of children and adolescents did not receive treatment for their mental health disorder in 2016. (10) Further complicating access to care, as demand for behavioral health services increases in communities across the United States, the number of psychiatrists available to treat them continues to decline. (11) The population of practicing psychiatrists declined by more than 10 percent between the period of 2003 through 2013, while the population of primary care physicians and neurologists grew during the same period. (12) Technology has evolved to connect