What Is HHS’s New Psychiatric Prescribing Plan?
On May 4, 2026, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced a sweeping effort to curb psychiatric overprescribing at a MAHA Institute summit on mental health and overmedicalization. HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. served as the closing speaker and unveiled a multi-agency action plan aimed at reforming how psychiatric medications are prescribed across the country.
The plan brings together multiple federal agencies in a coordinated push to evaluate prescribing patterns and the benefits and harms of psychiatric medications, while expanding efforts to taper or discontinue them when they are no longer clinically beneficial. Furthermore, it places strong emphasis on elevating nonmedication alternatives as credible frontline treatments.
Why HHS Is Acting Now
Kennedy framed the initiative as a direct response to a national mental health crisis, specifically targeting the overuse of psychiatric medications — especially among children. His announcement aligns with the broader MAHA (Make America Healthy Again) agenda, which has consistently questioned the widespread use of antidepressants and other psychiatric drugs.
Secretary Kennedy called for supporting patient autonomy, requiring informed consent, and advancing shared decision-making between providers and patients. Together, these priorities signal a significant philosophical shift in how federal health agencies view psychiatric care.
To understand the initiative, two terms matter. Overprescribing occurs when clinicians prescribe medications to patients who may not need them — whether by prescribing before trying nonmedication options, continuing a drug longer than necessary, or maintaining a treatment that no longer proves effective. Deprescribing, meanwhile, involves thoughtfully discontinuing or tapering treatments that show insufficient benefit or cause tolerability problems that outweigh their efficacy.
Key Actions Under the MAHA Initiative
Deprescribing and Tapering Guidance
Through a multipronged approach that includes education and outreach, program and policy actions, and research-to-practice efforts, HHS is working to prevent unnecessary initiation of psychiatric medications. It also aims to support tapering and discontinuation for patients not experiencing clinical benefit.
In a Dear Colleague Letter published on May 4, HHS encouraged providers to prioritize informed consent and shared decision-making, and to regularly review the risks and benefits of psychiatric medications with patients. Critically, the letter also informs providers about billing codes that support evidence-based nonmedication treatments — removing a long-standing financial barrier.
Nonmedication Treatments Come Forward
The letter highlights nonmedication approaches such as family support, psychotherapy, nutrition, and physical activity when clinically appropriate. These alternatives, HHS argues, deserve more prominent placement in standard clinical workflows rather than functioning as afterthoughts following medication failure.
CMS Guidance for Clinicians
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services released guidance for physicians and clinicians on the importance of deprescribing, clarifying how physicians can be paid for this type of care under Medicare. The guidance also directs clinicians to widely recognized resources for deprescribing protocols.
This summer, SAMHSA and the Health Resources and Services Administration will host a joint webinar for Federally Qualified Health Center providers focused on holistic care, nonmedication treatments, and deprescribing when clinically indicated.
Expert Reactions: Support and Concern
Voices in Favor
Dr. Allen J. Frances, professor emeritus of psychiatry at Duke University School of Medicine, welcomed the HHS action plan. He argued that the high rate of antidepressant use reflects careless overprescribing and insufficient deprescribing, adding that 80 percent of antidepressants are prescribed by rushed primary care doctors as the quickest way to move a distressed patient through the office.
Dr. Frances noted that understanding the root causes of distress — and finding alternative solutions — takes considerably more time than simply writing a prescription. His view reinforces the HHS argument that structural reforms in clinical practice are overdue.
APA Pushes Back
The American Psychiatric Association issued a statement supporting efforts to improve the quality, safety, and evidence base of mental health treatment. However, it firmly objected to the administration’s framing of the mental health crisis as primarily a problem of overprescribing.
The APA stated that this characterization oversimplifies a complex crisis and ignores a larger reality: too many patients cannot access timely, comprehensive care, while care remains unevenly distributed across the health system. The statement also pointed to persistent workforce shortages, limited psychiatric beds, inadequate visit time, and barriers to psychotherapy and social supports.
Dr. Joseph F. Goldberg of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai questioned whether overprescribing is even the right framing, given that the vast majority of depression in the US goes untreated. He argued that the larger problem may be inadequate oversight and monitoring of treatment regimens.
What Comes Next
In July, HHS plans to convene a Technical Expert Panel to gather input from health professionals, patients, family members, government agencies, and professional societies. This panel will inform the development of formal HHS clinical guidance on the appropriate use of psychiatric medications, including tapering and discontinuation protocols.
HHS agencies will also support clinical practice change through grant activities, including child-specific training for frontline prescribers focused on assessment, treatment planning, and referral decision-making — while increasing access to timely specialist and same-day consultations.
The debate over this initiative is far from settled. Still, its launch marks a concrete federal effort to rebalance psychiatric care — prompting both long-overdue reform conversations and sharp warnings about the risks of oversimplification.
