WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Ranking Member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies, today announced that West Virginia was one of 15 states selected to receive a $1,000,000, 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.

“In recent years, our country and state has faced an unprecedented surge of substance use deaths, fueled by extraordinarily deadly drugs like illicit fentanyl,” Ranking Member Capito said. “Grants like these play a crucial role in supporting local recovery centers and ensuring they have the resources they need to help pull struggling West Virginians out of the suffocating grip of addiction. As we battle the opioid epidemic, I will continue to advocate for our state, listen to the issues and experiences that people are facing, and deliver the resources we need.”

BACKGROUND:

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, 7 days a week and serve anyone who requests care for mental health or substance use, regardless of their ability to pay. This expansion of CCBHCs builds on the previous efforts to launch the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, which Senator Capito supported, and further builds the crisis continuum of care.

Learn more here.

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