HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Unveils MAHA Plan To Curb Psychiatric Overprescribing

U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. unveiled a new federal initiative aimed at curbing what he described as the “overuse” of psychiatric medications, “especially among children,” during a Monday appearance at a Make America Healthy Again Institute summit on mental health and overmedicalization.

“In a brief appearance at a Make America Healthy Again Institute event Monday, anti-vaccine Health Secretary Robert F”

Ars Technica

Kennedy said the effort would emphasize “the appropriate deprescribing of psychiatric drugs” while shifting care toward prevention and “a more holistic approach to mental health,” and he framed the plan as a response to “our nation’s mental health crisis.”

Ars Technica

In a statement, Kennedy said, “Today, we take clear and decisive action to confront our nation’s mental health crisis by addressing the overuse of psychiatric medications — especially among children,” and he added, “We will support patient autonomy, require informed consent and shared decision-making, and shift the standard of care toward prevention, transparency, and a more holistic approach to mental health.”

Kennedy also insisted the initiative was not about forcing patients off medication, saying, “Let me be clear: If you are taking psychiatric medication, we are not telling you to stop,” and “We are making sure you — and your clinician — have the information and support to make the right decision for you.”

The HHS plan, as described by HHS.gov, said agencies would align to evaluate “prescription patterns for psychiatric medications, their benefits and potential harms,” and to “elevate the role of nonmedication treatments and scalable, evidence-based solutions.”

HHS.gov further said the initiative would include “education and outreach, program and policy actions, and research-to-practice efforts,” while also supporting “tapering and discontinuation for patients not experiencing clinical benefit.”

Alongside Kennedy’s remarks, multiple outlets described specific components of the federal approach to psychiatric medication deprescribing and follow-up.

Fox News Digital reported that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced new guidance allowing physicians to be reimbursed for helping patients safely taper off psychiatric medications and monitor withdrawal, and it said the plan also includes “a new report on prescribing trends, more training for doctors, and a panel of experts to guide future decisions on medication use.”

CNN

HHS.gov said CMS guidance would clarify “how physicians and other practitioners can be paid for this type of care under Medicare,” and it directed clinicians to “widely recognized resources for deprescribing,” including “professional society guidelines, peer-reviewed deprescribing protocols, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) instructions for taper schedules.”

The HHS.gov action plan also laid out a timeline for education and research-to-practice efforts, stating that “Throughout June and July, SAMHSA will host educational webinars for prescribers and other health professionals” and that “This summer, SAMHSA and the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) will host a joint webinar for Federally Qualified Health Center providers.”

HHS.gov added that “In July, HHS will convene a Technical Expert Panel” to gather input from “health professionals, patients and family, government agencies, and professional societies” to inform “formal HHS clinical guidance.”

CNN described the announcement as following “recent work by psychiatry professionals” and referenced “the American Society of Clinical Psychopharmacology’s guidelines on these issues that were published in February,” while also quoting Dr. Joseph F. Goldberg’s definition of deprescribing as “simply means that if any treatment is not proving itself to be beneficial, or if problems with tolerability substantially outweigh efficacy, it makes sense to discontinue that treatment and replace it with a more effective viable alternative.”

The initiative drew both support and pushback from different medical voices, with CNN reporting that some psychiatry experts welcomed the federal efforts while also raising concerns about how the issue was framed.

“Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F”

Fox News

CNN quoted Dr. Theresa Miskimen Rivera, president of the American Psychiatric Association, saying, “However, we do have an issue with the framing of mental health as a primary problem of overmedicalization,” and Rivera added, “This type of characterization really oversimplifies a very complex, larger issue.”

CNN also quoted Dr. Jonathan Alpert, who said, “In some instances, antibiotics or diabetes medications are overprescribed and cause unnecessary side effects, cost and other harms,” and he argued that “In many other instances, they can be lifesaving,” adding that “So too with psychiatric medications such as antidepressants or antipsychotics.”

In a separate statement carried by The Guardian, the American Psychiatric Association said it “welcomes the attention placed squarely on the nation’s mental health crisis and is committed to advancing solutions that improve access to high-quality evidence-based care,” but it also said the framing “oversimplifies a complex crisis and ignores the larger reality: too many patients cannot access timely, comprehensive care, while care remains unevenly distributed across our health system.”

The Hill reported that in a “Dear Colleague” letter on Monday, HHS officials wrote that psychiatric medications “should not be understood as the only treatment option,” and it said the APA signaled receptiveness while pushing back on the “overmedicalization or overprescribing” framing.

Ars Technica described the MAHA event as focused on “overmedicalization,” with participants alleging “without evidence” that too many Americans, particularly youths, are overprescribed antidepressants, and it said Kennedy has long attacked antidepressants with “false and dangerous claims.”

Coverage of Kennedy’s deprescribing initiative diverged sharply in tone and emphasis across outlets, even when describing the same core announcement.

Fox News and HHS.gov foregrounded the plan’s stated goals of patient autonomy, informed consent, and shared decision-making, with Fox quoting Kennedy’s statement that “We will support patient autonomy, require informed consent and shared decision-making, and shift the standard of care toward prevention, transparency, and a more holistic approach to mental health.”

NOTUS

CNN similarly centered the policy language and included expert definitions of deprescribing, quoting Dr. Joseph F. Goldberg’s explanation of when discontinuation makes sense and Dr. Jonathan Alpert’s warning that medicine must address both “overprescribing and underprescribing.”

By contrast, Ars Technica framed the initiative through the lens of Kennedy’s prior claims, describing his announcement as curbing antidepressants while he “falsely compares” them to heroin, and it said mental health experts had condemned his rhetoric and were “already pushing back.”

Ars Technica also highlighted specific examples of Kennedy’s past statements, including a podcast claim that “every Black kid is now just standard put on Adderall, SSRIs, benzos, which are known to induce violence,” and it said experts had debunked the heroin comparison, citing Keith Humphreys’s comment that antidepressants and heroin “are in different universes when it comes to addiction risk.”

The Guardian’s reporting acknowledged Kennedy’s plan to curb antidepressant prescribing while quoting Kennedy’s insistence, “Let me be clear: if you are taking psychiatric medication, we are not telling you to stop,” and it also described the APA’s objection that the crisis framing “oversimplifies a complex crisis.”

The HHS action plan described a sequence of upcoming steps that would shape how deprescribing and non-drug care are implemented across the U.S. system.

“Health Secretary Robert F”

NOTUS

HHS.gov said “This month, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) will issue a report on prescribing trends” and also a “fact sheet for prescribers and patients,” while “Throughout June and July, SAMHSA will host educational webinars for prescribers and other health professionals” to increase awareness of side effects and “approaches for deprescribing, as well as evidence-based non-medication treatments.”

Protect Our Care

HHS.gov also said “This summer, SAMHSA and the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) will host a joint webinar for Federally Qualified Health Center providers focused on holistic care, including nonmedication treatments, and deprescribing and tapering of psychiatric medications when clinically indicated.”

In July, HHS said it would convene “a Technical Expert Panel to gather input from health professionals, patients and family, government agencies, and professional societies” to inform “the development of formal HHS clinical guidance on the appropriate use of psychiatric medications and tapering and discontinuation.”

CNN reported that HHS agencies plan to work together to “evaluate prescription patterns for psychiatric medications, their benefits and potential harms, and elevate the role of nonmedication treatments,” and it described the department’s approach as including “education and outreach, program and policy actions, and efforts to increase the ability of research to influence clinical practice.”

At the same time, Protect Our Care’s Kayla Hancock warned that the plan collided with access and affordability issues, saying, “How serious can RFK Jr.’s new clinician training program really be under a department he’s trying to shutter?” and it argued that “these harmful cuts to pay for Trump’s ballroom will likely make access problems for seniors even worse.”