2026-advocacy-piece

RECOMMENDATIONS 11 • Maintain funding of $19,765,000 for the ARRIVE program. • Make pre-release and reentry services a priority of the Department of Human Services under the current 1115 Waiver and ensure their inclusion in the 2028 renewal application. • Open New Jersey’s Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic certification process to all willing providers once the State Plan Amendment is in place. Support Critical Services in the Continuum of Care There are very important touchpoints throughout New Jersey’s behavioral healthcare network, where intervention and engagement can define an individual’s future. Many services exist that take advantage of these moments - among them is the Alternative Responses to Reduce Instances of Violence and Escalation, or ARRIVE Together program. Now operating in all 21 counties, ARRIVE Together operates with different models across the state that range from a mental health professional responding alone, to co-response with law enforcement, telehealth and a mental health professional coming on scene after law enforcement has arrived. Early studies showed that the program was successful in reducing both the use of force and arrests and racial disparities in outcomes. New Jersey’s leadership in developing this successful program and achieving these results is applauded. Full support for the valuable ARRIVE Together program must continue. Another critical touchpoint for individuals with mental health and substance use disorders is during the months prior to their release from incarceration. Pre-release services are very important to reduce overdoses, death and recidivism in the months following an individual’s return to their community. New Jersey sought to begin services prior to release under its latest 1115 Comprehensive Waiver application, but the proposal did not meet federal standards for pre-release services. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) denied this authority, but is open to further consideration. In Closing New Jersey has a robust continuum of care for individuals with mental health and substance use disorders, but gaps remain, and inadequate reimbursements challenge both fiscal stability and workforce adequacy. Investment is needed to sustain, strengthen and expand services. The reduced overdoses and suicides and a better quality of life for those served that would follow are priceless. At the same time, there would be savings for the State from reduced hospitalizations, emergency room visits, and criminal justice involvement. Significant investments to invaluable behavioral health services are the right and smart choice to make! New Jersey should begin discussions with CMS and make invaluable pre-release and reentry services a priority under the current 1115 Waiver and ensure that they are included in the 2028 renewal application that will begin to be prepared in 2026. New Jersey’s seven Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics (CCBHCs), which were among the first in the nation implemented in 2016, are no longer under the federal demonstration program. A State Plan Amendment (SPA) incorporating them is currently awaiting CMS approval. CMS has already granted New Jersey a waiver of state-wideness in its 1115 Waiver, which means only the initial seven CCBHCs will remain state-certified. The state certification process of this comprehensive, extremely successful program model should be open to all provider organizations once the SPA approval is received. Year after year, New Jersey’s CCBHCs have proven to have fewer staff recruitment and retention challenges and extremely successful client outcomes. All New Jersey residents should have access to the full continuum of services the CCBHC model provides.