What Is a CCBHC?

As an integrated and sustainably-financed model for care delivery, CCBHCs:

• Ensure access to integrated, evidence-based substance use disorder and mental health services, including 24/7 crisis response and medication-assisted treatment (MAT).
• Meet stringent criteria regarding timeline of access, quality reporting, staffing and coordination with social services, criminal justice and education systems.
• Receive flexible funding to support the real costs of expanding services to fully meet the need for care in their communities.

CCBHCs have dramatically increased access to mental health and substance use disorder treatment, expanded states’ capacity to address the overdose crisis and established innovative partnerships with law enforcement, schools and hospitals to improve care, reduce recidivism and prevent hospital readmissions.

The CCBHC model was originally implemented in an eight state in a 2017 demonstration program through the passage of the Excellence in Mental Health Care Act of 2014, with two states added to the demonstration in 2020. Since 2018, grants from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) have also funded clinics in dozens of states to take on the activities and services of a CCBHC.

In October 2022, the Biden-Harris administration announced the CCBHC model will be expanded nationwide, with planning grants available to help more states with implementation. These grants use funding authorized by the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act.

CCBHCs are currently funded either through the demonstration program through Medicaid, or through SAMHSA grants. A growing number of states are moving to implement the model — similar to other value-based or alternative payment models — independently via a state plan amendment or Medicaid waiver. CCBHCs in the Medicaid demonstration are paid using a prospective payment system, or PPS. PPS supports clinics’ costs of expanding services and increasing the number of clients they serve, while improving clinics’ flexibility to deliver client-centered care.

CCBHCs dramatically increase access to care, expand state’s capacity to address the overdose crisis, reduce mental health-related hospitalizations, help address the workforce shortage, and create innovative partnerships with law enforcement, schools, and hospitals to improve care.

• CCBHCs are serving an estimated 2.1 million people nationwide.
• CCBHC status enables clinics on average to serve more than 900 more people per clinic than prior to CCBHC implementation, or a 23% increase.
• CCBHCs provide access to mental health & substance use care much faster than the national average wait time of 49 days, with the vast majority offering access within a week or less. They also provide access to certain forms of substance use disorder treatment at vastly higher rates than non-CCBHCs, with 82% of CCBHCs offering one or more forms of medication assisted treatment, compared to only 56% of substance use clinics nationwide.

Check out our Data and Impact section for reports, factsheets and more information on how CCBHCs are expanding access to mental health and substance use care nationwide.