Mental Health Initiatives
House Bill 1013, signed into law in 2022, expanded OHSC's role in coordinating mental health policy. It also expanded OHSC's role in coordinating behavioral health services across state agencies. OHSC is charged with developing and recommending solutions to systemic barriers or problems impeding behavioral health service delivery. It must also set specific goals to improve behavioral healthcare access, quality, and outcomes. OHSC is currently working on the mental health initiatives described below.
- Mental Health Reform Action Plan: In 2021, OHSC partnered with Accenture to create the Mental Health Reform Action Plan. The plan implements the recommendations in the first-year report of the Behavioral Health Reform and Innovation Commission (BHRIC).
- Prescription Drugs: OHSC is charged with recommending a unified Preferred Drug List (PDL) for Medicaid and PeachCare for Kids. The list covers mental health and substance use disorder prescriptions. It also tasked OHSC with recommending a unified formulary for the same prescriptions in the State Health Benefit Plan.
- Emergency Transportation: HB 1013 tasked OHSC with a survey or study on how individuals are transported. The study covers trips to and from emergency receiving, evaluation, and treatment facilities (ERETs). OHSC has partnered with the University of Georgia's Carl Vinson Institute of Government to conduct this study.
Additional Resources
- Behavioral Health Reform and Innovation Commission
- HB 1013 Presentation to the 33rd Biennial Institute
- Behavioral Health Coordinating Council
- Georgia State University Center of Excellence for Children's Behavioral Heath