Why It Matters
Connections Health Solutions LLC, an in-house registrant, filed its 2026 third-quarter report on Oct. 9 disclosing efforts related to behavioral health reform and the improvement of behavioral health crisis services and access, under the Health Issues (HCR) and Medicare/Medicaid (MMM) issue codes. The filing names no specific bills, but the disclosed issues place the company on record as Congress considers proposals to expand the infrastructure behind 988, the national Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, a three-digit number connecting callers to mental health crisis response.
By the Numbers
The third-quarter filing reports $170,000 in in-house lobbying for the 2026 quarter three activity period, signed Oct. 9. The in-house amount is unchanged from the second quarter of 2026 and from the third quarter of 2025.
The client's combined total across all registrants this quarter is $210,000, down $110,000 from $320,000 in the second quarter of 2026, and down $35,000 from $245,000 in the third quarter of 2025.
The filing names one lobbyist, Chris Santarsiero, vice president, government affairs, whose record shows no prior government experience. Santarsiero has appeared on every in-house quarterly report from the third quarter of 2023 through the third quarter of 2026.
Broader Context
On Sept. 3, Rep. Doris Matsui (D-CA-7) and Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (PA-01) reintroduced the 988 Implementation Act with a bipartisan group of House members, and the release lists Connections Health Solutions among the bill's endorsers. The bill would strengthen federal funding for 988 call centers, expand community-based and mobile crisis response, require health insurance plans to cover crisis services, fund crisis workforce training, and fund a national awareness campaign.
Matsui said: "988 has become a lifesaving resource for millions of Americans, but answering the call cannot be where our responsibility ends." The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, and more than 35 organizations endorsed the bill.
On Sept. 5, 2025, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) issued guidance on best practices for implementing the continuum of behavioral health crisis services under Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP). SAMHSA also published its 2025 National Guidelines for a Behavioral Health Coordinated System of Crisis Care in January 2025.
Three House bills related to behavioral health crisis response were introduced in late 2025 and referred to the House Energy and Commerce Committee, with no further action shown: H.R. 5725, the Mental Health Crisis Response Act of 2025, introduced by Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ); H.R. 5706, introduced by Rep. Yassamin Ansari (D-AZ); and H.R. 5859, the Behavioral Health Crisis Care Centers Act of 2025, introduced by Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA).
The Bottom Line
The in-house lobbying amount has held steady across every quarter since the third quarter of 2024.
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