West Virginia has one of the nation’s highest rates of drug overdose deaths. In 2021 alone, there were 1,253 opioid overdose deaths in the Mountain State. This is a tragedy that impacts every community, from our biggest cities to our smallest towns.
But it doesn’t have to be this way. We can make a difference, especially if we can provide high quality mental health and substance use care to all who need it. We know that access to evidence-based treatment can change lives and improve the health and well-being of communities across the state.
That’s why the West Virginia Behavioral Healthcare Providers Association advocates for a quality system of behavioral healthcare accessible to all West Virginians.
Because we can make a difference in the lives of thousands in our state. One example of progress comes in the form of Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics (CCBHCs), a special type of clinic established by Congress in 2014 to provide a comprehensive range of mental health and substance use services.
Initially, only a handful of states were eligible for CCBHC funding through a demonstration program administered by the federal government. But in 2022, the West Virginia Legislature enacted legislation to embrace the CCBHC model within the state Medicaid plan. In 2023, six clinics were designated by West Virginia’s Medicaid agency as CCBHCs.
Today, these clinics are serving thousands of people, expanding access to timely care and reducing wait times. They provide mobile crisis response and stabilization services, often in conjunction with law enforcement or the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. And according to a new report released this year, all six clinics in West Virginia have increased the number of children and youth served since becoming a CCBHC last year. They also have expanded access to substance use care, including Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) for Opioid Use Disorder. And several clinics have added or expanded crisis response services.
In other states though, CCBHCs are eligible for an enhanced federal payment rate that not only provides more financial stability to expand care to more people, but also helps save the state money. This federal payment rate allows CCBHCs to better cover their true costs, and thus expand services and increase the number of clients they serve.
Unfortunately, West Virginia is currently locked out of the enhanced federal funding. We applied, but were not selected as one of 10 states to join the expanded CCBHC demonstration program, which provides that enhanced payment rate.
Fortunately, Congress is considering legislation that would solve this problem. The Ensuring Excellence in Mental Health Act (S.2993, H.R.8543) would make the enhanced payment structure available to all states, thus providing CCBHCs in West Virginia an even better ability to serve more people.
Congress has approved CCBHC legislation in the past, and always has done so on a bipartisan basis. Indeed, Senators Joe Manchin and Shelley Moore Capito have long been champions of the CCBHC program, and I am grateful for their leadership.
Now, we have an opportunity to create a permanent CCBHC infrastructure that would ensure the program and enhanced funding would be permanently available to every state, including West Virginia.
I urge the West Virginia congressional delegation to sign on as cosponsors of the Ensuring Excellence Act and to rally other members of Congress in support of this critical legislation. If passed, I know this Act will save countless lives in our state. And as West Virginians, it’s in our fabric to take care of each other. There is no better opportunity than now to showcase that kinship.
Brad Story is CEO of the West Virginia Behavioral Healthcare Providers Association.
