The federal Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) has announced $240 million in awards to launch and expand mental health and substance use disorder services in more than 400 community health centers across the country.
“Access to behavioral health care should not depend on your zip code, but for far too many American communities, getting high-quality and affordable mental health and substance use disorder care is out of reach,” said Kyu Rhee, M.D., M.P.P., president and CEO of the National Association of Community Health Centers, in a statement. “With its historic $240 million investment in behavioral health care services in 400 Community Health Centers, the Biden-Harris administration is taking a significant step toward improving equity in mental health and substance use disorder care.”
Because community health centers are a primary source of care for individuals across the country who are uninsured, underinsured, or enrolled in Medicaid, it positions them well to respond to the urgent need for behavioral health services that are high-quality, stigma-free, culturally competent and readily accessible. These grants are expected to help expand access to needed care to help tackle the nation’s mental health and opioid crises.
HRSA Administrator Carole Johnson made the announcement at the recent Mental Health America Conference in Washington, D.C. 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. are not receiving treatment: 1 in 5 youth had at least one major depressive episode in the last year—with over half not receiving treatment, and 10 percent of adults with a mental illness are uninsured.
“In the Biden-Harris Administration, more people now have health care coverage than at any point in our nation’s history. With today’s announcement to establish and expand behavioral health care in hundreds of community health centers, we are further demonstrating our commitment not only to health coverage but 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 in all 1,400 HRSA-supported health centers nationwide that together serve more than 31 million people. Today, health centers are only able to meet about 27% of the demand for mental health services and 6% of the substance use disorder treatment demand among their patients.
Last year, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee passed bipartisan legislation to enact the Administration’s proposal to make behavioral health a core health center service. The Administration said it looks forward to further congressional action to secure this expansion of mental health and substance use disorder treatment as part of a multiyear extension of community health center funding.
