SAMHSA Primary & Behavioral Health Care Integration Grant Program

An OPEN MINDS Market Intelligence Report

In 2009, in an effort to promote integrated service delivery, the Administration for Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) developed the Primary and Behavioral Health Care Integration (PBHCI) grant program. The PBHCI grant program is designed to help manage the physical health status of individuals with serious mental illness (SMI) and those with co-occurring substance use disorders who have, or are at risk for, co-occurring primary care conditions and chronic diseases. SAMHSA awards grant funding to mental health programs to enable them to provide physical health services in a behavioral health setting. SAMHSA took this approach because research shows that individuals receive better care where they have a connection to the health system.

Applications to the grant program are limited to qualified non-profit community mental health programs. Additionally, at least one organization involved with the project must directly provide mental health services, although this organization does not have to be the applicant. All organizations (including the primary care partner) must have provided services in the geographic area of the proposed grant application for at least two years. SAMHSA has set these guidelines because it believes only experienced organizations have the infrastructure to implement integrated care.

The PBHCI grant program began in 2009 with its first round of applicants, and SAMHSA was still accepting applicants in 2015. Due to the length of time, the program has been running, SAMHSA has issued three different requests for funding applications (RFAs) for the PBHCI program – each of which funds multiple groups or cohorts of grantees over the course of a few of years. SAMHSA has also changed the scope of the program since its inception.

This report covers key topics related to the SAMHSA Primary & Behavioral Health Care Integration Grant Program, including:
A comprehensive description of the SAMHSA Primary & Behavioral Health Care Integration Program (PBHCI)
The amount that has been spent on the PBHCI program and who the grant winners are
The results of the PBHCI program thus far>