Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics  

Last night, the CSAP Governmental Affairs Committee (GAC) considered whether to urge California to apply for Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic Planning Grants. A Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic (CCBHC) model is designed to ensure access to coordinated comprehensive behavioral health care. CCBHCs are required to serve anyone who requests care for mental health or substance use, regardless of their ability to pay, place of residence, or age – including developmentally appropriate care for children and youth. CCBHCs must meet standards for the range of services they provide, and they are required to get people into care quickly. An important feature of the CCBHC model is that it requires crisis services that are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. CCBHCs are required to provide a comprehensive array of behavioral health services so that people who need care are not caught trying to piece together the behavioral health support they need across multiple providers. In addition, CCBHCs must provide care coordination to help people navigate behavioral health care, physical health care, social services, and the other systems they are involved in. CCBHCs can be supported through the CCBHC Medicaid Demonstration, through SAMHSA administered CCBHC Expansion (CCBHC-E) Grants, or through independent state programs. CCBHCs have demonstrated increased hiring and retention of medical directors, psychiatrists, and child and adolescent psychiatrists, as well as other vital behavioral health care staff with subsequent decreases in appointment wait times, especially for underserved populations. The GAC voted to recommend that CSAP send a letter urging the State to apply. The Board concurred. You may view more information on CCBHCs here.