State Governments provide a variety of essential support to people with behavioral health needs.
In 2009, NRI completed a pilot study documenting the numbers of persons served by state government agencies other than the mental health agency, and the expenditures these agencies make for behavioral health services, including corrections, Medicaid, vocational rehabilitation, substance abuse, housing, juvenile justice, child welfare, education, and early intervention.
The study helped eight states identify thousands of consumers receiving mental health services from OSAs, and millions of dollars being expended to provide these services, and led to a more informed understanding of the roles, responsibilities, and systems of state mental health agencies (SMHAs) and OSAs in providing mental health services, and brought about increased interagency collaboration to reduce service fragmentation.
For additional information on our other state agency study, please contact [email protected].