The federal Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) has announced $240 million in grants to launch and expand mental health and substance use disorder services at more than 400 community health centers nationwide.
«Access to behavioral health care shouldn’t depend on your ZIP code, but for many American communities, getting affordable, high-quality mental health and substance use disorder care is out of reach,» said Kyu Rhee, MD, MPP, President. and executive director of the National Association of Community Health Centers, in a statement. «With its historic $240 million investment in behavioral health care services at 400 community health centers, the Biden-Harris administration is taking a significant step toward improving equity in mental health care and use disorders.» of substances».
Because community health centers are a primary source of care for people across the country who are uninsured, underinsured, or enrolled in Medicaid, they are well positioned to respond to the urgent need for behavioral health services that are high quality, stigma-free, culturally competent and easily accessible. These grants are expected to help expand access to care needed to help address the nation’s mental health and opioid crises.
HRSA Administrator Carole Johnson made the announcement at the recent Mental Health America Conference in Washington, DC, attended by thousands of advocates, clinical leaders, people with lived experience, and their families.
Mental Health America’s The State of Mental Health in America 2024 report found that the vast majority of people with a substance use disorder in the U.S. do not receive treatment: 1 in 5 young people had at least one major depressive episode in the past year, with more than half not receiving treatment and 10 percent of adults with a mental illness uninsured.
“In the Biden-Harris administration, more people now have health care coverage than at any other time in our nation’s history. “With today’s announcement to establish and expand behavioral health care at hundreds of community health centers, we are further demonstrating our commitment not only to health coverage but also to access to care,” said HRSA Administrator Johnson , in a statement. «Mental health and substance use disorder treatment are essential elements of primary care, and there should be no wrong door for families to get the behavioral health care they need.»
The Biden-Harris Administration has called for requiring and funding mental health and substance use disorder services at the 1,400 HRSA-supported health centers across the country that collectively serve more than 31 million people. Today, health centers can only meet about 27% of the demand for mental health services and 6% of the demand for substance use disorder treatment among their patients.
Last year, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee approved bipartisan legislation to enact the Administration’s proposal to make behavioral health a core service of health centers. The Administration said it expects further action from Congress to secure this expansion of mental health and substance use disorder treatment as part of a multi-year extension of funding for community health centers.
