Clinics that have implemented a Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic (CCBHC) model serve 23% more patients than they did before the designation.
That’s according to a new survey by the National Council for Mental Wellbeing, which included responses from 249 CCBHCs and grantees. Results of the survey show that CCBHCs are growing in both the number of clients they serve and staff.
Additionally, the vast majority (77%) of CCBHCs and grantees report their caseload has increased since adopting the model.
“The most important insight for me was the degree to which CCBHCs have been expanding access to services and increasing staffing in the midst of really unprecedented levels of need for care around the nation – and in the middle of a big workforce shortage,” Rebecca Farley David, special advisor at the National Council for Mental Wellbeing, told Behavioral Health Business.
CCBHCs have continued to focus on growing their staff. On average, survey takers said they have hired 27 new staff members per clinic since becoming a CCBHC. Additionally, 11,240 new staff positions were added across all 450 active CCBHCs and grantees.
CCBHCs are designated clinics that provide a “comprehensive range of mental health and substance use services.” The first CCBHC Medicaid demonstration program began in 2017 thanks to the passing of the Excellence in Mental Health Care Act of 2014.
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) has also funded a number of clinics to take on CCBHC functions. Clinics receiving SAMHSA funding are categorized as a “grantee” in this study and not a designated CCBHC.
“It’s so clear that CCBHCs have been able to leverage their funding and their service model to reach populations whose needs have been unaddressed for quite some time,” David added. “And bring people into an enhanced scope of services available to help keep them healthy and functioning in their communities.”
As CCBHCs look to expand, they are hiring both clinical and non-clinical staff to help serve patients. For example, 84% of clinics said that since becoming a CCBHC, they have hired or are looking to hire peer support/recovery specialists; 79% are looking to hire or have hired data analysts.
The majority of CCBHCs (68%) have also hired or are looking to hire primary care providers.
“What is so amazing about the model is that it does have the flexibility to support things that we know are critical for client health, and yet aren’t billable services under an insurance model, like the care coordination piece,” David said. “Yet so often, there’s just no funding whatsoever available for them. And the CCBHC model is helping to hire the staff, to adopt the technology, to go through the process of change management. That’s really necessary to make the most of those things.”
The report also found that CCBHCs are providing a number of services for patients with substance use disorder (SUD).
For example, 94% of CCBHCs and grantees provided medication assisted treatment (MAT) for SUD. Additionally, 82% of CCBHCs directly offer at least one type of MAT for opioid use disorder (OUD). That’s compared to 56% nationwide.
Many CCBHCs offer multiple MAT services. Sixteen percent of CCBHCs directly offer three types of MAT for OUD, while 57% directly offer two types of MAT for OUD and 9% directly offer one type of MAT for OUD.
CCBHC improving access to primary care
Clinics reported an uptick in primary care integration since becoming a CCBHC. In fact, 81% of CCBHCs and grantees reported increasing the number of primary care referrals since implementing the CCBHC model.
Additionally, 75% of CCBHCs and grantees track clients’ follow-through on referrals.
“You see a number of CCBHC co-locating services on site. Sixty-one percent of the respondents said that they have physical health services co-located in the same building as the CCBHC,” David said. “That really helps improve client access to both primary care and behavioral health services at the same time.”
CCBHCs are also looking to partner with law enforcement and criminal justice agencies. The report found 86% of CCBHCs collaborate with court systems, while 77% provide outreach and engage with individuals who have a criminal legal involvement. What’s more, 65% train correction officers in mental health first aid or other mental health screenings.
“A lot of the work occurring with police and other criminal justice entities would not be available or supportable under a traditional insurance model,” David said.
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