WPBN: In January 2025, seven approved community behavioral health clinics will be opened by the Health Care Authority of New Mexico.
In order to provide access to mental health and drug abuse treatment, the Health Care Authority of New Mexico is getting ready to open seven licensed community behavioral health clinics throughout the state in January.
According to a November Legislative Finance Committee analyst report, the behavioral health clinics will also provide crisis services around-the-clock for those who are experiencing mental health issues. Care will be available to people of all ages and insurance statuses.
According to Eric Chenier, principal analyst for the Legislative Finance Committee, the clinics are supported by $15 million in Government Results & Opportunity Program funds that the Legislature approved, and three to six more are planned. Within two fiscal years, the money must be used. On January 1st, the first batch of clinic locations will open at:
- The University of New Mexico Health System in the counties of Sandoval and Bernalillo
- San Juan County’s Presbyterian Medical Services
- Bernalillo County’s All Faiths Children’s Advocacy Center
- Life House in Carlsbad, Eddy County
- Doña Ana County’s Families & Youth Innovations Plus
- McKinley and Santa Fe Counties’ Santa Fe Recovery Center
- Curry County’s Mental Health Resources
The clinics are also a part of a four-year federally financed pilot program run by many federal agencies, according to a news release from the Health Care Authority.
In the statement, New Mexico Medicaid director Dana Flannery stated, “These clinics will provide 24/7 crisis services and comprehensive mental health and substance use treatment for New Mexicans through a no-wrong door approach.”
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According to Chenier’s report on mental health needs and gaps, the state is not experiencing significant results in behavioral health at the moment this new approach to services in New Mexico is implemented, despite millions of dollars in federal and state money and additional providers.
New Mexico has some of the highest funding in the country, but employing someone to organize the expenditure hasn’t worked out, Chenier said in a report sent to lawmakers last month.
Founded in 2004 to oversee 16 local behavioral health collaboratives and coordinate the statewide plan, the state’s Interagency Behavioral Health Purchasing Collaborative has been without a director for more than a year and hasn’t convened in almost a year, Chenier said.
It’s been uploaded. A number of interviews have been conducted. “At this time, we haven’t found the right candidate,” Chenier said MPs.
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Much of the funding for addiction and mental health treatment has not been used.
Between 2020 and 2024, the state allocated more than $424 million on behavioral health. Only half of the amount, or roughly $240 million, has been allocated. Furthermore, just $46 million, or around 10% of the entire amount appropriated, has been spent.
How can the state spend millions of dollars and receive federal funding for behavioral health needs and not see results? asked Rep. Jack Chatfield (R-Mosquero).
“You drive down the street and the people that I see standing out there holding a sign, most of them probably need treatment, and we’re not reaching them,” Chatfield stated. “We’re not getting the job done.”
The state’s rankings on important mental health measures have been worse over the past few years, despite the fact that the number of providers has increased in the majority of areas.
Based on statistics from Mental Health America’s 2024 State of Mental Health in America, New Mexico is ranked 44th out of 51 states in terms of the total prevalence of mental disease in adults and children. At 23% for adults and 16% for kids, the state ranks 49th and last, respectively, in terms of substance use disorders.
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