42 U.S.C. § 290aa–0a — Behavioral health crisis coordinating office

(a) Creating the office. The Secretary must set up an office within the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration to coordinate behavioral health crisis care work. This office coordinates across Department of Health and Human Services divisions, including the Administration, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, and the Health Resources and Services Administration, as well as outside stakeholders. (b) What the office must do. The office must bring together federal, state, tribal, local, and private partners. It must create and run federal workgroups that make recommendations on mental health and substance use disorder crisis issues — covering best practices, building the workforce, health disparities, data collection, technology, oversight of programs, public awareness, and engagement. It must also give technical assistance, data analysis, and evaluation help to states, localities, territories, tribes, and tribal organizations, so they can build crisis care systems and find best practices. The goal is to expand the capacity of, and access to, local crisis call centers, mobile crisis care, crisis stabilization, psychiatric emergency services, and rapid follow-up care after a crisis. This support covers services offered by the National Suicide Prevention and Mental Health Crisis Hotline and Response System, the Veterans Crisis Line, community mental health centers, certified community behavioral health clinics, and other community mental health and substance use disorder providers. (c) Funding. Congress authorized $5,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2023 through 2027 to carry out this section.