NJAMHAA FY2022 Annual Report

7 • NJAMHAA’s persistent years-long advocacy succeeded in having Early Intervention Sup - port Services (EISS) programs expanded to all of New Jersey’s counties. Eleven million dollars in the current budget will support new programs in 10 counties and provide additional funding to existing EISS programs. Nine of the contracts recently awarded for these programs went to NJAMHAA members. • NJAMHAA also had success in having the Di- vision of Mental Health and Addiction Services (DMHAS) develop a policy for providers to be able to keep surpluses resulting from Paycheck Protection Program loan forgiveness. NJAMHAA has already realized several fiscally signif - icant successes in the proposed FY2023 budget, and continues to work to expand the list when the FY2023 budget is finalized. Included in the Governor’s pro - posed budget are: • $27 million in state funds (with a $12 million federal match) for a total of $39 million for wage increases for all DMHAS contracted commu - nity-based providers of mental health and substance use treatment to be applied to both contracts and rates. NJAMHAA’s advocacy, and work with DMHAS as they reviewed current en - try-level wages, directly led to these proposed appropriations. The new funds cover years of state minimum wage increases for which providers had not previously been reim- bursed. • NJAMHAA’s relent- less advocacy directly led to $1.7 million of state funding plus $2.9 million in fed - eral matching funds for increases to the children’s psychiatric assessment, outpa- tient and partial care rates. These three programs, which have rates that are not the sole purview of DCF, were not included in the Department’s rate increases initiated in FY2021. The children’s psychiatric assessment rate will be raised to match the adult rate of $438, once the budget passes. • Strong advocacy for the School Based Youth Services Programs (SBYSPs) resulted in the current year’s $5 million legislative add-on being incorporated into the Office of School Linked Services budget line in the Governor’s proposed FY2023 budget. This move will allow programs to use these funds for salaries in the coming year, an expense that was not allowed by the legislative add-on. • Increased funding for existing EISS programs that was added to the current year’s budget was also incorporated into the Governor’s pro - posed FY2023 budget. Additionally, the Governor, in both his budget message and Budget in Brief document, stated his intent to use American Rescue Plan (ARP) funds for workforce development and school based services, the top two priorities for which NJAMHAA has been advocating. More specifically, workforce recommendations include providing funding for recruitment and retention bonuses and investing in tuition reimbursement and loan forgiveness for behavioral health staff.