U.S. Reps. Lance and Matsui Introduce Bill to Expand Funding for Community Mental Health Services
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
2/12/2016
CONTACT
Rep. Leonard Lance - JOHN BYERS (202) 225-5361
Rep. Doris Matsui - LAUREN DART (202) 225-7163
U.S. Reps. Lance and Matsui Introduce Bill to Expand Funding for Community Mental Health Services
New Legislation is Next Step to Funding Quality Mental Health Care Nationwide
Reps. Leonard Lance (NJ-07) and Doris Matsui (CA-06) introduced a bill today to expand eligibility significantly for the program they championed with Sens. Debbie Stabenow (MI) and Roy Blunt (MO) to strengthen community mental health and substance abuse services across the country.
The Expand Excellence in Mental Health Act will build on previous legislation introduced by Reps. Lance and Matsui, the Excellence in Mental Health Act, by opening eligibility for more states under the demonstration program created in the original law. Last year, 24 states were preliminarily selected to coordinate with community mental health centers, Federally-Qualified Health Centers, V.A. clinics and other mental health organizations to create programming that meets the new quality standards for Certified Community Behavioral Health Centers. Under current law, eight of these 24 states will be selected to receive full funding for comprehensive community behavioral health services. The Expand Excellence in Mental Health Act will fund community mental health services for all 24 states- a major step toward fully equipping quality mental and behavioral health services nationwide.
"This measure is directly tackling one of the most significant mental health challenges - access. The Expand Excellence in Mental Health Act will enable more states to experiment with the tools and practices to fix our Nation's broken mental health care system. By expanding the law to include more states, we encourage greater collaboration and testing in finding out what solutions work, how best we care for those who need treatment and what we can do to keep people safe. The Excellence in Mental Health Act is the most significant work Congress has done on mental health care. We should expand it and keep the momentum going," said Congressman Lance, a member of the Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee.
"Expanding the Excellence in Mental Health demonstration project would be an important milestone in our efforts to tackle comprehensive mental health care reform," said Congresswoman Matsui, a member of the Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee. "The Expand Excellence in Mental Health Act will give more states the opportunity to benefit from high quality, evidenced-based, and community-driven mental health care that patients and families so desperately need. We must bring mental health up to a level playing field with the rest of our nation's health care system, and incentivizing states to improve the delivery of mental health care at the local level through this demonstration project will help us achieve this goal."
In an effort to put community mental health centers on an equal footing with other health centers, Reps. Matsui and Lance first introduced the Excellence in Mental Health Act in early 2013. The legislation improves quality standards, fullyfunds community services and offers patients increased access to services like 24-hour crisis psychiatric care, counseling and integrated services for mental illness. The bill was signed into law by President Obama in 2014 and is one of the most significant steps forward in community mental health funding in decades.
Praise for the Expand Excellence in Mental Health Act:
"This legislation is a critical step forward in making mental health and addiction care available to every American in need," said Linda Rosenberg, President andamp; CEO of the National Council for Behavioral Health. "The Expand Excellence in Mental Health Act will expand Americansand#39; access to lifesaving mental health and addiction care, while supporting providers with the resources to not only immediately help each individual who walks into a clinic, but to also coordinate their behavioral and physical health needs. Every state that is working to transform its care delivery system deserves to be able to do so. The National Council pledges to continue working with Senators Debbie Stabenow and Roy Blunt and Reps. Leonard Lance and Doris Matsui to ensure that all 24 states have the opportunity to implement Excellence Act resources."
Debra L. Wentz, Ph.D., President and CEO of the New Jersey Association of Mental Health and Addiction Agencies, Inc. (NJAMHAA)expressed her strong support for the expansion of the Excellence in Mental Health Act demonstration program to 24 states. "I applaud the leadership of Representatives Lance and Matsui in introducing the Expand Excellence in Mental Health Act. It is imperative to ensure that communities across the nation have the clinical and fiscal means to serve every child and adult in need of mental health and/or substance use treatment. The quality work that is going in to the development of the Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics (CCBHCs) should not be discouraged in two thirds of the states that have undertaken this challenge. The infrastructure needed to become a CCBHC is daunting and the data monitoring and reporting requirements would serve the field well. All states that meet the rigorous standards should be able to participate."
The Expand Excellence in Mental Health Act is supported by over 50 mental health organizations including: American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, Association for Behavioral Health and Wellness, American Psychological Association, Clinical Social Work Association, Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance, Eating Disorders Coalition, Mental Health America, National Alliance on Mental Illness, National Council for Behavioral Health, Sandy Hook Promise, among many others.
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