Sheppard Pratt announced today that it has been awarded a $4 million grant from the US Department of Health and Human Services - Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) to provide continued funding to support its existing Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic (CCBHC) in Baltimore City. The award also funds the program’s expansion to serve Baltimore County through its Outpatient Mental Health Clinic in Timonium, Maryland.
The grant funding is for a two-year period and extends to February 2023. Sheppard Pratt’s CCBHC began in October 2018 thanks to an initial SAMHSA grant. It is the only CCBHC located in Baltimore City and one of three in Maryland.
CCBHCs, a new provider type supported under Medicaid, are becoming increasingly important in helping communities address the mental health and substance use disorder needs of vulnerable and complex populations. CCBHCs provide an integrated and comprehensive collection of services under one roof, intended to create access and provide 24-hour care for individuals in crisis.
Under its first SAMHSA grant, Sheppard Pratt’s CCBHC focused on two primary populations: 1) individuals with mental health and/or substance use disorders who lacked access to services due to limited financial capacity and/or insurance coverage, and 2) individuals currently served by Sheppard Pratt’s outpatient mental health clinic and addiction treatment program who lack comprehensive care coordination—an approach deemed essential for both improving individuals’ health outcomes and reducing health care costs.
In the program’s first year, it served over 800 individuals, and the program reached more than 1,100 clients in the second year. Thanks to this funding, the program is projected to serve as many as 2,000 new individuals over the next two years. This is due in part to the expanded geographic reach with its Outpatient Mental Health Clinic in Baltimore County.
“Our CCBHC fills a critical need: coordinated healthcare services for our community’s most vulnerable individuals,” said Sheppard Pratt Jeff Richardson, vice president and chief operating officer for community services. “This funding is a crucial investment in a network of support intended to address a patient’s physical and mental health concerns, plus a long list of other issues that may not be addressed in other healthcare settings, such as connecting the patient with housing, employment and other social services.”
These services are especially crucial as the global COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the nation’s existing mental health crisis. For example, the Maryland Opioid Operational Command Center (OOCC) reported a 9% increase in drug-related overdose deaths for the first half of 2020, compared to the same period in 2019. Further, a June 2020 survey conducted by The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revealed that 10% of respondents reported having seriously considered suicide in the 30 days before completing the survey.
About Sheppard Pratt
Sheppard Pratt is the largest private, nonprofit provider of mental health, substance use, developmental disability, special education, and social services in the country. A nationwide resource, Sheppard Pratt provides services across a comprehensive continuum of care, spanning both hospital- and community-based resources. Since its founding in 1853, Sheppard Pratt has been innovating the field through research, best practice implementation, and a focus on improving the quality of mental health care on a global level. Sheppard Pratt has been consistently recognized as a top national psychiatric hospital by U.S. News & World Report for more than 30 years.