Senate Introduces Ensuring Excellence in Mental Health Act to Permanently Authorize CCBHC

Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) and Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) introduced the Ensuring Excellence in Mental Health Act (S. 2993) which builds upon the previous bipartisan actions of Congress to expand and enhance the Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic (CCBHC) model. This legislation takes the next step of supporting the long-term success of the model by amending the Social Security Act and the Public Health Service Act to permanently authorize certified community behavioral health clinics. The Ensuring Excellence in Mental Health Act will continue the growth of CCBHCs and their provision of mental health and substance use care by:

• Establishing CCBHCs formally in federal law and creating infrastructure to build upon the model’s current success
• Creating ongoing technical assistance infrastructure to enhance and improve new and existing CCBHCs
• Authorizing new enhancement and improvement grants to support activities to strengthen the CCBHC workforce