SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Syracuse–based Helio Health is hoping the federal government will extend the funding for a program that focuses on addiction treatment and mental-health services.
Federal lawmakers are considering a bill that would extend funding for the program that establishes certified community behavioral health clinics (CCBHCs). Helio Health is a CCBHC.
Funding for New York’s CCBHCs is set to expire this June, the office of U.S. Senate Minority Leaders Charles Schumer (D–N.Y.) announced Monday.
The proposal is called the Excellence in Mental Health and Addiction Treatment Expansion Act. It authorizes the Rockville, Maryland–based Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) to provide “enhanced” payments through Medicaid to hospitals and health-care providers in eight states, including New York.
The funding allows clinics to offer opioid addiction and mental health-care services to thousands of adults and children per year.
In a Monday visit to Helio Health, Schumer told those gathered that he is co-sponsoring that federal bill.
“I am here to say we need to save the federal program that funds [CCBHCs],” Schumer said in his remarks at Helio Health.
The Democrat spoke at a news conference inside Helio Health’s child and adolescent center.
New York’s CCBHC pilot program funding is scheduled to run out at the end of this June, and if it is not extended, the state would stand to lose between $25 million and $30 million per year, per Schumer’s release.
Over the course of the last two years, the CCBHC program has allowed the Helio Health clinic to add 65 full-time staff and treat 6,504 walk-in patients.
Schumer explained that the pilot program has allowed the agency to deal with the shortage of opioid addiction and mental-health services in Central New York. It’s been able to hire additional staff, reduce treatment wait times, increase medically assisted treatment, and add new services like its children and adolescent outpatient clinic and 24/7 walk-in assessments.
Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com