42 U.S.C. § 247b–13a — Screening and treatment for maternal mental health and substance use disorders

(a) Grants The Secretary must give grants to states, Indian Tribes, and Tribal organizations to set up, improve, or keep running programs — including culturally and linguistically appropriate ones — that screen, assess, and treat maternal mental health and substance use disorders. These programs serve women who are postpartum, pregnant, or gave birth within the past 12 months. (b) Application To apply, an entity from (a) must submit an application the Secretary requires, which must at least explain (1) how the program will raise the share of women in one or more communities who are screened and treated, as needed, for these disorders, and (2) how expanding the program would give more women access to that screening and treatment. (c) Priority When awarding grants, the Secretary must, where appropriate, give priority to entities that (1) plan to build or improve screening, prevention, and treatment services for these disorders in primary care settings; (2) already partner, or will partner, with community organizations to address these disorders; (3) serve areas with disproportionately high rates of maternal mental health or substance use disorders, or related disparities; and (4) work in a health professional shortage area, including a maternity care shortage area. (d) Use of funds Grant money must be used for activities that: (1) include (A) training health care providers and paraprofessionals in primary care to screen for, briefly intervene on, treat, and refer patients for maternal mental health and substance use disorders; (B) giving those providers and paraprofessionals information on screening, intervention, treatment, referral, follow-up support, and links to community resources; and (C) letting providers get real-time psychiatric consultation, in person or remotely, including through technology-based collaborative learning models, to help treat pregnant and postpartum women; and (2) may include (A) building links with community mental health and primary care resources and support groups; (B) using telehealth, including for rural and medically underserved areas; (C) helping pregnant and postpartum women get treatment through consultation, care coordination, and navigation; (D) coordinating with state, local, and tribal maternal and child health programs, including child psychiatric access programs; (E) publicizing these grants; (F) forming multistate groups to carry out these activities; and (G) training providers and paraprofessionals in trauma-informed, culturally and linguistically appropriate care, to improve care and reduce disparities for racial and ethnic minority populations. (e) Technical assistance The Secretary must give technical help to grantees and to entities from (a) carrying out this section's activities. (f) Dissemination of best practices Based on evaluating funded activities, the Secretary must identify and share evidence-based or evidence-informed practices for screening, assessing, treating, and referring women for maternal mental health and substance use disorders, including culturally and linguistically appropriate ones, during pregnancy and the following 12 months. (g) Matching requirement Federal money cannot pay for more than 90 percent of the total cost of an entity's funded activities. (h) Authorization of appropriations $24,000,000 is authorized for each of fiscal years 2023 through 2027.