House Passes Bills to Boost Funding for Mental Health, Substance Use Programs

Yesterday the U.S. House of Representativesapproved significant funding increases for key mental health and substance use disorder (SUD) programs included in the FY 2022Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies and theMilitary Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies appropriations bills.The legislation increases funding for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) by $3.16 billion, an increase of nearly 50% over FY 2021, to $9.16 billion. The SAMHSA increase includes the following:An $825 million increase to the Mental Health Services Block Grant, including a 10% set-aside for crisis services and an additional $100 million for mobile crisis response and an $89.6 million increase for the Suicide Lifeline and implementation of the 988 phone number.Additional substance use treatment resources of $1.6 billion, including a 33% increase in State Opioid Response Grants.$20.3 million for the Minority Fellowship Program, a 20% increase.The bill also includes the following funding:An increase of $341 million for the Health Resources Services Administration (HRSA) to support health workforce development, including $28 million for HRSA ’s loan repayment program for the substance use disorder treatment workforce.$37.5 million for the Employee Benefits Security Administration, including a specific focus on improving compliance with the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act.$330 million for the National Institutes ...
Source: Psychiatr News - Category: Psychiatry Tags: appropriations FY 2022 loan repayment program research samhsa Saul Levin substance use programs Source Type: research