Fierce Healthcare Reports:
The Biden administration wants more states to set up mental health clinics. The clinics are needed to help address a mental health crisis that existed before the pandemic but which has been made worse by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has announced that it will provide $15 million in new funding from the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act to states to create or transform certified behavioral health clinics. These clinics offer crisis services regardless of whether a patient can pay.
Ten states currently get funding for certified behavioral health clinics. Medicaid reimburses the clinics for the full cost of their services. HHS is hoping that additional states will apply for funding, too. The goal is to increase the amount and the quality of mental health crisis care that is available to American. The eventual goal is to make such support available 24/7 across the land.