June 22, 2022

Before I learned the state will be releasing its’ guidance to OMH and OASAS providers and other stakeholders regarding the imminent sunset of the exemption of our workforce, I was attempting to bring Rebecca Farley from the National Council who is their point person on all things CCBHC, to our table tomorrow morning.  But (as we just announced via email) we will instead be joined tomorrow morning by SOMH’s Nicole Haggerty and (perhaps) her colleagues from OASAS who will discuss implications for our field arising from the sunset of the exemption on Friday.  I hope you will join us.

In the meantime, I had a brief conversation with Rebecca Farley to ascertain what’s happening with the Senate Bipartisan Gun Reform legislation proposal that (if enacted) would put significant new funding into various mental health initiatives including but not limited to expansion of the federal CCBHC Demo Program.  Of course, we are particularly interested in the implications of the proposed legislation on NYS and specifically, our members.

The bottom line is that the new legislation may not change much for New York State in terms of the CCBHC Demo initiative.  It gives current Demo states an additional 2 years of the enhanced federal match rate for CCBHCs, but it does NOT address the issue of Demo states adding more Demo sites.  The National Council tried to get that piece included, but the deal had already been finalized.  

The quick message from Rebecca at the National Council is that our next collective bite at the apple will be a possible Senate Finance package on mental health, and if that does not materialize, we will keep trying!

More to follow.