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CCBHC News and Updates
SAMHSA awards 14 States and Washington, D.C. with CCBHC Medicaid Demonstration Planning Grants for Expanding Access to Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder Services
On January 7, 2025, SAMHSA announced award of one-year CCBHC Demonstration planning grants to 14 states and Washington, D.C. in the amount of $1 million per recipient as authorized by the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA) of 2022 to address the ongoing national mental health and substance use disorder crises.
HHS selects 10 new CCBHC Demonstration planning grant states
On June 4, 2024, The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Serviced Administration (SAMHSA) and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced the first round of ten new states selected to participate in the section 11001 BSCA expansion and extension of the CCBHC Demonstration Program to Improve Community Mental Health Services. The new CCBHC states selected to participate in the Demonstration include Alabama, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Rhode Island and Vermont. These states will begin their Demonstrations between July 1, 2024, and July 1, 2025.
Congress passed the Consolidated Appropriations (CAA) Act of 2024 which adds the CCBHC program as an optional Medicaid state plan benefit
On March 9, 2024, the Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) of 2024 (Pub. L. 118-42) was signed into law and contains a provision under section 209 that makes the CCBHC program permanent as an optional state plan benefit under Medicaid. As part of this legislation, state plan CCBHC services will include a similar set of substance use and mental health services as those that are offered as part of the CCBHC Demonstration authorized under section 223 of the 2014 Protecting Access to Medicare Act (PAMA) (P.L. 113-93).
- Crisis mental health services, including 24-hour mobile crisis teams, emergency crisis intervention services, and crisis stabilization
- Screening, assessment, and diagnosis, including risk assessment
- Patient-centered treatment planning or similar processes, including risk assessment and crisis planning
- Outpatient mental health and substance use services
- Outpatient clinic primary care screening and monitoring of key health indicators and health risk
- Intensive case management services
- Psychiatric rehabilitation services
- Peer support and counselor services and family supports
The CAA also defines a CCBHC as a clinic certified by a State as meeting the CCBHC Demonstration program criteria in place as of January 1, 2024, and any subsequent updates; furnishes all required services, and provides data to support state and Federal monitoring of the program.
CMS Released Updated CCBHC Prospective Payment System (PPS) Guidance
On February 15, 2024, CMS released updated CCBHC PPS Guidance for states on developing clinic-specific PPS rates, cost reporting, and claiming Medicaid expenditures. The updated Guidance supports expansion and extension of the CCBHC Demonstration authorized through the BSCA, and includes additional payment types for CCBHCs, most notably, the updated PPS Guidance provides new rate options for special crisis services and offers new flexibilities for developing quality bonus payments. All states participating in the CCBHC Demonstration program are expected to come into compliance with the updated PPS Guidance by the start of the Demonstration year beginning on or after July 1, 2024.
Congress passed the 2022 Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA) which expands and extends the CCBHC Demonstration authorized through the 2014 PAMA
On June 25, 2022, the BSCA was signed into law. Section 11001 of the BSCA provides for expansion and extension of the CCBHC Demonstration authorized under the PAMA allowing the selection of ten additional states to participate in the CCBHC Demonstration program, beginning July 1, 2024, and every 2 years thereafter. The BSCA also extends the program for the original 8 states through September 30, 2025, and gives the two states added under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act a total of 24 fiscal quarters.