The U.S. Senate Finance Committee has approved about $8.05 billion related to behavioral health across multiple parts of the U.S. Health and Human Services Department (HHS).
On Thursday, the bipartisan committee approved funding items on a 25-3 vote. A committee report details the financial priorities for the pending federal fiscal year 2025 budget. Items spanned the education, health and labor departments of the executive branch. The $7.55 billion proposed budget for the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) encompassed most of the funding.
Overall, HHS would get about $122.8 billion if approved by the rest of the legislature. The Senate Appropriations Committee also approved funding priorities for energy, defense, finance and general government appropriations.
Most of the funding for behavioral health-related treatment and prevention will be divided up and allocated to states on a formulaic basis, with states with the highest articulated needs receiving a greater portion of the funds. (You can find the committee report here.)
“As communities work to tackle the devastating opioid and mental health crises, this bill provides significant new funding to support their efforts,” Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA), Senate Appropriations Committee chair, said in a news release.
The largest line items would go to well-established grant-making programs. The State Opioid Response (SOR) Grants would receive $1.6 billion, the Substance Use Prevention, Treatment, and Recovery Services (SUPTRS) Block Grant would get $2.05 billion and the Community Mental Health Services Block Grant program would receive $1.04 billion.
“The Committee recommendation continues bill language requiring that at least 10 percent of the funds for the [mental health block grant] program be set-aside for evidence-based programs that address the needs of individuals with early serious mental illness, including psychotic disorders,” the committee report states.
It also says that at least 10% of that funding is set aside for the treatment of those with “early serious mental illness” and 5% for crisis services.
One of the largest line items, and one of the largest year-over year increases, goes to the 988 Lifeline. It is slated to get $540 million, a 4% increase from the 2024 fiscal budget. The Federal Communications Commission first proposed 988 as a replacement for the 10-digit, 800 number to Congress in August 2019. Its creation became mandated by law in October 2020. A separate bill filed in January would put $30 million behind follow-up services for the hotline.
The committee also recommended $400 million in funding for certified community behavioral health clinics (CCBHCs). This care model is backed by a prospective payment model within Medicaid and offers all-in-one mental health, addiction treatment and some physical health services in one setting, sometimes via mobile units. The Biden administration announced in June that the federal government added 10 states to the waiver program that allows the creation of CCBHCs.
“The committee continues to direct SAMHSA to prioritize resources to entities within States that are able to quickly stand-up a CCBHC, including those part of the demonstration authorized by section 223(a) of the Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014,” the committee report states.
The committee report also includes several behavioral health workforce initiatives. The Behavioral Health Workforce Education and Training (BHWET) program, which establishes internships and field placements for providers in rural and medically underserved areas, is slated to get $113 million in funding; $25 million of that is dedicated to an addiction medicine fellowship meant to place and increase the number of doctorate-level addiction treatment providers in underserved areas and $14 million for peer support specialist training, internship and certifications.
The Substance Use Disorder Treatment and Recovery (STAR) Loan Repayment program, previously a part of BHWET, is now independently funded. It is slated to receive a $25 million increase, up to $65 million, next year. The program covers providers’ educational debt in exchange for working in underserved areas or areas with an especially high drug overdose death rate.
The nearly tied U.S. Senate has not voted on the appropriations. At the end of July, the Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives passed just some of the funding bills put before it largely on party lines, leading some to speculate that the government may need to pass a continuing funding resolution, a temporary funding measure to prevent a government shutdown in the Fall. The federal fiscal year ends on September 30. There is funding in place for the federal government after that date.
