A decade after the establishment of the certified community behavioral health clinic (CCBHC) model, more than 60% of the US population has access to such facilities and the mental health and substance-use disorder treatment services they provide, according to a new study led by researchers at the NYU School of Global Public Health. Moreover, these clinics are expanding the availability of crisis mental health services, including mobile crisis response teams and stabilization. "Certified community behavioral health clinics have become a cornerstone of bipartisan strategies to increase access to and improve the quality of behavioral health care in the United States," said Amanda Mauri, an assistant professor/faculty fellow at the NYU School of Global Public Health and the lead author of two new studies on CCBHCs.
A new approach to community-based behavioral health care CCBHCs fulfill federal criteria related to providing outpatient mental health and substance-use care, including crisis services, regardless of patients' ability to pay. The federal government established the criteria for the CCBHC model in 2014, and the first CCBHCs opened in October 2016. Clinics that become CCBHCs are typically community mental health centers that offer outpatient behavioral health care before becoming CCBHCs, but other types of facilities—like hospitals and federally qualified health centers—are also receiving CCBHC designation.
"The creation of CCBHCs marks the first significant shift in .