HHS Secretary Kennedy Unveils Initiative to Reduce Psychiatric Medication Use Through Deprescribing Incentives

Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. announced a plan on Monday to stop psychiatric doctors from overprescribing medications to patients who do not need them, The Federalist reported.

Where he highlighted the issue as part of a broader dependency crisis. He announced a new Dear Colleague Letter from HHS that will begin a plan to pay doctors to pursue off-ramps for psychiatric medications. “The United States does not just face a mental health crisis.

We face a dependency crisis driven by overmedicalization,” Kennedy said. He added, “This is a system-level pattern. ” Over 16 percent of American adults take antidepressants, Kennedy noted. In addition, 10 percent of children are on some form of prescription drug for a mental health issue, while 30 percent of college students have used psychiatric medications in the past year.

Over 50 percent of nursing home residents are on prescription antidepressant drugs. The Dear Colleague Letter will kickstart reforms across HHS, including at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), and the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA).

Health care providers are being directed to expand the use of evidence-based non-pharmacologic treatments and to strengthen informed consent and shared decision making, Kennedy stated.

SAMHSA will conduct national training modules on the risks associated with psychiatric medication, how to taper a patient off the medications, and encouraging deprescribing. SAMHSA and HRSA will train providers at over 1,400 federally qualified health centers overseeing about 39 million patients about how to conduct medically supervised taperings.

CMS will issue billing guidance that will allow providers to get paid for deprescribing, including the care planning, monitoring withdrawal, coordinating treatment, and tracking outcomes.

“Psychiatric medications have a role in care, but we will no longer treat them as the default. We will treat them as one option, used when appropriate, with full transparency, and with a clear path off when they are no longer effective,” Kennedy said.

He continued, “Patients must understand the benefits, the risks, and the consequences of long term use before they start or they continue, and when they consider stopping.

” Nearly 48 million Americans experienced depression last year, according to Kennedy. More than 48 million Americans struggle with substance use disorders. “These are not abstract numbers. These are family members.

These are individuals. These are people who other people love. That is the scale of the challenge. We are not going to solve it by defaulting to medication. We’re going to solve it by strengthening prevention, expanding non-drug treatment options, and restoring clinical standards that prioritize outcome over volume,” Kennedy said.

Breccan F. Thies is the White House correspondent for The Federalist. He is a co-recipient of the 2025 Dao Prize for Excellence in Investigative Journalism. Thies holds a degree from the University of Virginia and is a 2022 Claremont Institute Publius Fellow.