NJAMHAA FY2022 Annual Report

10 Many more provisions of the ARP added funding for the behavioral health field. They include: • $80 million through the Health Resources and Services Administration for mental health and substance use disorder training for healthcare pro - fessionals, paraprofessionals, and public safety officers • $30 million for Project AWARE (Advancing Well - ness and Resiliency in Education), including men - tal health awareness training programs • $20 million for youth suicide prevention • $80 million for pediatric mental health care access • Permission for states to provide bundled pay - ments for a three-year period for communi - ty-based mobile crisis intervention services at an 85% Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP) rate and $15 million in 988 planning grants for states • An additional 10% FMAP increase for one year for Medicaid home- and community-based services during the COVID–19 emergency NJAMHAA did not slow in its advocacy for fed - eral funding as Congress worked on passing its FY2022 budget in March of 2022. That bill, which provides funding through September 30, 2022, in - cludes additional increases to both the Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Block Grant (up $50 million to $1.908 billion) and the Community Mental Health Services Block Grant (up $100 mil - lion to $857 million). The FY2022 federal budget also included these increases that NJAMHAA supported: • $25 million for State Opioid Response grants • $10 million for Medication-Assisted Treatment – Prescription Drug and Opioid Addiction (MAT- PDOA) grants • $1 million for Peer Support Specialists • $77.6 million for the Suicide Prevention Lifeline • $65 million increase for CCBHCs • $10 million for a new grant program to improve mental health crisis care re- sponses • $13 million increase for Project AWARE • $90 million increase for Department of Education programs to increase the avail - ability of mental health services in schools NJAMHAA’s advocacy at the federal level also was re - flected in many of the recommendations in President Biden’s FY2023 budget message. Our advocacy will continue to ensure they remain as Congress works to finalize this budget in the coming months. Among the notable recommendations in the Administration’s budget proposal are: • Implement 35% increase for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, bring - ing funding to $10.13 billion. • Allow all states and territories to participate in the CCBHC demonstration program. • Invest $750 million in the behavioral health work - force and delivery. • Invest in youth mental health and suicide preven - tion programs. • Invest in training, educational loan repayment, and scholarships that help address the shortage of mental health and substance use providers. • Strengthen mental health parity protections and enforcement. • Expand Medicare provider types for mental health and substance use services. These are all areas NJAMHAA has consistently advocated for to New Jersey’s Congressional dele - gation. NJAMHAA has always been at the forefront of Ensuring Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (continued)