NJAMHAA 75th Anniversary

22 75 th Anniversary Equally Impactful Advocacy for Children’s Services As indicated in the chronological list of achievements, much of NJAMHAA’s impact directly benefited children. In fact, NJAMHAA’s President and CEO Debra L. Wentz and several Board members sat on the committee that planned what was initially called “The Children’s Initiative”. Through its 501(c)(3), the New Jersey Mental Health Institute, the organization was involved from the very beginning, having trained all the providers in the then-new Children’s System of Care Initiative during its initial four and one-half years (2000-2004). NJAMHAA and all other stakeholders for children’s behavioral health services were devastated when Governor Phil Murphy’s Proposed FY2021 Revised Budget indicated elimination of funding for the School Based Youth Services Program (SBYSP), which NJAMHAA had been advocating to be expanded. “ NJAMHAA was key in saving the School Based Youth Services Program multiple times. ” Mary Abrams, MPP NJAMHAA’s Senior Health Policy Analyst NJAMHAA persuaded DMAHS to implement and extend several policies during the transition period of services carved into Medicaid managed care: Set Medicaid rates as the floor; require managed care organizations (MCOs) to contract with “any willing qualified provider” for the first 24 months and until the contracted network meets requirements statewide; and mandate that MCOs automatically issue prior authorizations without medical-necessity review. Additional extensions of the transition period were enacted in 2025. The FY2024 State Budget included the first major increase of $20 million dedicated to loan redemption for behavioral healthcare providers. In February 2024, opioid settlement funds were allocated: $24 million over two years to expand harm reduction and drug user health services; $17.505 million over three years to expand operations at New Jersey’s 22 Community Peer Recovery Centers; $9.025 million over three years to replace and add mobile units providing Medication Assisted Treatment; $19.5 million over three years to scale remote referrals to enable 24/7 connections to care; $17 million over three years to bolster the supported housing continuum; and $8.1 million over three years to expand the New Jersey Keeping Families Together program. Also in FY2024, NJAMHAA’s advocacy resulted in allocation of Federal Substance Use Prevention, Treatment and Recovery Support COVID-19 Supplemental Block Grant funds for the Transportation Reimbursement and Invoicing Program. These funds were made available to providers on a first-come-first-served basis from late November 2023 to mid-March 2024. In April 2024, the state allocated $3.7 million to support staffing and response structure in the 988 crisis response system. In May 2024, the state implemented the Bilingual Mental Health Clinician Stipend Program for direct service providers at Division of Mental Health and Addiction Services-licensed programs who speak any of the qualifying languages. The Betty Ford Center was opened, a few years after she disclosed her addiction. 1982 Federal support for treatment began to decline and the number of incarcerated drug users began to increase. Block grants transferred funding and responsibility for treatment to states. FY2024