Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics (CCBHCs) play a pivotal role in closing access gaps for mental health assistance and substance use disorder (SUD) treatment, according to a new report by the National Council for Mental Wellbeing.
Individuals seeking services from CCBHCs experience shorter wait times and have more opportunities to be seen than those who seek help from community clinics without the CCBHC designation, according to the survey, which includes responses from 128 clinics active as of January 2021.
Specifically, clinics reported serving 17% more people than they did prior to becoming state- and federally-designated CCBHCs. And while the national average wait time for behavioral health services is 48 days, 50% of CCBHCs provided same day access, and more than half saw patients either within a week or ten days.
The National Council report also found that CCBHCs more effectively collaborate with criminal justice agencies, coordinate care with hospitals and make medication-assisted treatment (MAT) available to those suffering from opioid use disorder (OUD).
In fact, 95% of CCBHCs reported collaborating with law enforcement and criminal justice agencies for various joint programs. Meanwhile, 79% reported coordinating with hospitals and emergency departments to prevent avoidable admissions for individuals in crisis.
On top of that, 70% of CCBHCs said they offer two or more forms of MAT for OUD, whereas only 29% of all community clinics nationwide do so. Additionally, 60% of clinics reported that they were able to add MAT services for the first time after becoming CCBHCs.
The CCBHC program was created in 2014 to provide resources to clinics looking to ramp up their service offerings for uninsured and underinsured individuals.
The program was established as a Medicaid demonstration, which continues to operate in a number of states.
Clinics in the CCBHC Medicaid demonstration receive higher Medicaid reimbursements in exchange for offering comprehensive care services to individuals with complex needs. Some of those services include 24-hour crisis care, along with comprehensive outpatient mental health and SUD treatment.
Providers nationwide can also become CCBHCs by applying for special grants from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). The main difference is that grant funding is capped and runs out after a certain amount of time.
Currently, there are 340 CCBHCs operating in 40 states, Washington, DC and Guam, with the Medicaid program extended through September 2023. Nationwide, the National Council — which represents nearly 3,500 member organizations — estimates that CCBHCs serve 1.5 million individuals.
The National Council has previously reported that 52% of behavioral health organizations saw an increase in demand for services since the onset of the pandemic. In its latest report, National Council CEO Chuck Ingoglia pointed to the new findings as proof that more federal legislation is needed to expand the CCBHC Medicaid demonstration to address the nation’s worsening behavioral health crisis, which he believes will persist post-pandemic.
“This data shows that through their proven ability to provide comprehensive and ongoing care for anyone who walks in the door – no matter their financial situation – CCBHCs are the answer,” Ingoglia said in a press release for the new report. “We encourage Congress to introduce and pass legislation that allows every state to implement the CCBHC model within Medicaid. Our nation’s mental wellbeing is at stake – we can’t afford to wait when we know what works.”
The survey comes after the U.S. Government Accountability Office (U.S. GAO) recently issued a report on CCBHCs, in which it took issue with the way the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) conducts oversight of the clinics.
The GAO, in the report, said that HHS methods make it difficult to identify the effectiveness of the CCBHC program. The GAO, however, added that the report is not an indictment of the effectiveness of the CCBHC program overall.
