APA’s Government, Policy, and Advocacy Update (August 2021)

In late June, the Senate confirmed Miriam Delphin-Rittmon, Ph.D., as assistant secretary for mental health and substance use in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Delphin-Rittmon previously served as the commissioner of the Connecticut State Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services.

APA wrote a letter to the ranking members of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee expressing its support for Delphin-Rittmon’s nomination and urging her swift confirmation. “We need an experienced leader at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration [SAMHSA] to spearhead national efforts to reduce the impact of substance abuse and mental illness on America’s communities,” APA CEO and Medical Director Saul Levin, M.D., M.P.A., wrote in the letter. “Dr. Delphin-Rittmon has established herself as that capable leader in the mental health and addiction space throughout her distinguished career.”

The House Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee has approved several significant funding increases proposed for mental health and substance use disorders (SUDs) by the Biden administration for Fiscal 2022.

Biden proposed doubling the Community Mental Health Services Block Grant, which SAMHSA administers. According to the administration, funding the block grant with $1.6 billion (an increase of $825 million over the 2021 fiscal budget) is intended to respond to the systemic strain on the country’s mental health system. House appropriators funded that request and proposed $9.16 billion for SAMHSA, an increase of $3.14 billion above Fiscal 2021—an increase of approximately 50%.

APA had urged the subcommittee to support these funding increases for SAMHSA, as well as boost funding for the Health Resources and Services Administration, the National Institutes of Health, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, and the Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration.

House appropriators also have proposed $100 million in new funding for a pilot program facilitating community mobile crisis response, citing a hearing at which APA testified this spring as the inspiration.

House appropriators have proposed to increase the new set-aside funding for crisis care services in the Community Mental Health Services Block Grant to 10%, an APA-supported initiative championed by Reps. Cheri Bustos (D-Ill.) and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) in the Crisis Care Enhancement Act.

“This important legislation will enable communities to use more responders who are trained and prepared for mental health emergencies and de-escalate crisis situations,” Levin said in a news release. “That means fewer tragic and unnecessary encounters with the criminal justice system when patients really need mental health care, and less reliance on emergency rooms.” ■