The Governor’s 2021-22 budget includes about $1.2 billion from the General Fund ($1.4 billion total funds) for four major proposals intended to address various behavioral health-related needs in the state. This package of posts will contain our analyses of (1) the behavioral health continuum infrastructure funding proposal in the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS)—intended to expand statewide capacity for community behavioral health services through competitive grants to counties to acquire and renovate facilities for behavioral health services, (2) a proposed Medi-Cal managed care plan incentive program in DHCS intended to facilitate plan/county/school partnerships to increase the number of students receiving behavioral health services, (3) the Community Care Demonstration Project proposal in the Department of State Hospitals—intended to pilot-test the realignment of responsibility for treating felony incompetent-to-stand-trial patients to participating counties, and (4) student mental health proposals—including providing additional funding to an existing grant program to facilitate county/school partnerships and funding to schools to match county school mental health projects
This post analyzes the Governor’s proposal in the Department of Health Care Services to provide $200 million General Fund ($400 million total funds) one time to provide incentive payments to Medi-Cal managed care plans to increase the number of students receiving behavioral health services.
This post analyzes the Governor’s proposal in the Department of Health Care Services to provide $750 million General Fund—on a one-time basis—in competitive grants to counties to acquire or renovate facilities for community behavioral health services.
This post analyzes the Governor’s proposal in the Department of State Hospitals to provide $233.2 million General Fund in 2021-22 and $136.4 million General Fund in 2022-23 and ongoing to establish a demonstration project—that would be optional for counties to participate in—in which responsibility for treating individuals found incompetent to stand trial and facing a felony charge would be realigned to participating counties.
In this post, we provide background on school-based mental health services, describe the Governor’s proposals aimed at increasing such services, provide our assessments of the proposals, and offer associated recommendations.