West Virginia was one of 15 states selected to receive a $1 million, one-year Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic (CCBHC) planning grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).
In 2024, up to 10 of the 15 states selected will participate in the CCBHC Medicaid demonstration program and receive enhanced Medicaid reimbursement. The funding for the expansion of the CCBHC demonstration program was authorized by the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA) to help address the country’s mental health crisis.
CCBHCs were created to transform mental health and substance use treatment across the country and provide sustainable funding for robust community outpatient mental health treatment. The full CCBHC demonstration program provides reimbursement through Medicaid for the full cost of services that CCBHCs provide, at higher, more competitive rates than community mental health centers previously received. This sustainable funding also ensures they can provide a more comprehensive range of services rather than fragmented services driven by billing codes.
Funding for the CCBHC state planning grants was authorized by the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA) in 2022 to address the country’s mental health crisis. CCBHCs provide crisis services that are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week and serve anyone who requests care for mental health or substance use, regardless of ability to pay. This expansion of CCBHCs builds on the previous efforts to launch the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, which Sen. Shelley Moore Capito supported, and further builds the crisis continuum of care.