About

CCBHC

The Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014 directed the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to publish criteria for clinics to be certified as Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics (CCBHCs). In 2015, HHS issued the original CCBHC certification criteria which established a set of uniform standards that providers must meet to be a CCBHC.

There are 133 standards in six areas that an organization must meet to achieve CCBHC designation:

Staffing.
Accountability.
Care coordination.
Service scope.
Quality/reporting.
Organizational authority.

The standards were used by the initial eight states participating in the Section 223 CCBHC Demonstration program to certify 67 CCBHCs in 2016. Today, there are over 500 CCBHCs across 48 U.S. states, territories, and the District of Columbia. CCBHCs across the country are transforming systems by providing comprehensive, coordinated, trauma-informed, and recovery-oriented care for mental health and substance use conditions.

Plains was funded in 2020 and in 2022 by SAMHSA expansion grants. As an expansion grantee Plains self-attested to compliance with the certification criteria.

In 2022 federal funding was allocated to expand the number of states selected for the demonstration program. The goals are to:

Expand Community-Based Services
Improve integration with medical care.
Expand the use of evidence-based practice.
Improve access to high-quality care.
Improve data collection.
Target people with serious mental illness (SMI), serious emotional disturbance (SED), and significant substance used disorder (SUD) while serving the whole community.

The State of Iowa was awarded Demonstration status as of June 2024. Plains was selected by the State of Iowa to participate in the Demonstration program.

The primary goal of the CCBHC program is to increase access to mental health and substance use care for underserved communities.

CCBHCs provide:

Comprehensive, coordinated mental health and substance use services appropriate for individuals across the life span.
- Coordination of care with other behavioral health, physical health, and social services systems in the community.
Increased access to high-quality community mental health and substance use care, including crisis care.
Integrated person- and family-centered services, driven by the needs and preferences of people receiving services and their families.
A range of evidence-based practices, services, and supports to meet the needs of their communities.
Services to anyone seeking help for a mental health or substance use condition, regardless of their diagnosis, place of residence, or ability to pay, or age, including developmentally appropriate care for children and youth.
- This includes any individual with a mental or substance use disorder who seeks care, including those with serious mental illness (SMI); substance use disorder (SUD) including opioid use disorder and severe SUD; children and adolescents with serious emotional disturbance (SED); individuals with co-occurring mental and substance disorders (COD); and individuals experiencing a mental health or substance use-related crisis.

Nine core services are required to be provided either directly by the CCBHC or through formal partnerships. Those core services are:

Crisis Services,
Screening, Diagnosis & Risk Assessment,
Psychiatric Rehabilitation Services,
Outpatient Primary Care Screening & Monitoring,
Targeted Case Management,
Peer, Family Support & Counselor Services,
Community-Based Mental Health Care for Veterans,
Person- & Family-Centered Treatment Planning,
Outpatient Mental Health & Substance Use Services.

CCBHCs were created to transform mental health and substance use treatment across the country and provide sustainable funding for robust community outpatient mental health treatment. Plains is proud to be a CCBHC.CCBHCs were created to transform mental health and substance use treatment across the country and provide sustainable funding for robust community outpatient mental health treatment. Plains is proud to be a CCBHC.