Behavioral Health Services Budget Updates

BHS Priority Project Teams Overview

In March 2010, Governor Brewer signed into law the budget for Fiscal Year 2011, which covers the period from July 1, 2010 to June 30, 2011.

This budget includes limited funding for several important services:  $40.2 million for medication benefits for Seriously Mentally Ill individuals who are not eligible for Medicaid, $16.4 million for crisis services and $5.3 million for supportive housing for adults with serious mental illness. Overall, however, there have been significant reductions in the total available funding.

To implement the FY 2011 budget, the Arizona Department of Health Services/Division of Behavioral Health Services (ADHS/DBHS) established three dedicated teams with the participation of consumers and families to research the impact to members.

The teams are researching the following:

Non-T19 SMI Benefit Package
Goal:  To define and fully implement by July 1, 2010 a new, limited benefit package for non-TXIX SMI members that consists of medications, and medication management services.

Crisis System
Goal:  To define and fully implement by July 1, 2010 a statewide community-based crisis system benefit package consistent with available funding.

Supportive Housing
Goal: To define and implement by July 1, 2010 a supportive housing service benefit package consistent with available funding.

The overall goal of these teams is to make the available funding stretch to serve as many people as possible, in the best way possible.

During the next few weeks and months, our commitment to you is to regularly communicate with you about what these teams are doing to ensure that members continue to haves access to high quality behavioral health services.

Our team is focused on getting answers to you as quickly as we can. In the meantime, know that you can reach us by phone or email if you have question or concerns. We look forward to your input throughout this process.