Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced this week he has signed a series of bills aimed at strengthening insurance coverage for behavioral health services for Virginians, reducing the burden on law enforcement and enhancing the behavioral health workforce.
Speaking at Fauquier Health to a crowd of local law enforcement, state representatives, health care leaders and behavioral health care advocates from across the commonwealth, the governor said the new legislation is part of his “Right Help, Right Now” plan, which he unveiled in December.
According to Youngkin, the new laws will address issues such as reducing wait times for people being held under a temporary detention order, requiring health insurance providers to provide coverage for mobile crisis response services and allowing school systems more flexibility to hire social workers and school psychologists.
Gov. Glenn Youngkin speaks to a crowd of law enforcement, health professionals, state representatives and other stakeholders at Fauquier Health June 14 after signing a series of bills aimed at addressing mental health care in Virginia.
“We’re taking critical steps for all Virginians, Virginians of all ages and schools, in the workplace and in our communities. We’ve committed more resources at the community level to create more robust statewide crisis infrastructure,” Youngkin said during the event.
The bills, which received near-unanimous, bipartisan support, will take effect July 1.
Youngkin said that in addition to the soon-to-be laws, he proposed a $230 million investment in the state’s behavioral health system to address the strain on state-run mental hospitals. The governor included the proposed funding in his revised budget, which Democrats and Republicans are still negotiating.
According to the proposal, the $230 million would be allocated for the following programs:
- $20 million to fund more than 30 new mobile crisis units to respond to 9-8-8 hotline calls
- $58 million to increase the number of Crisis Receiving Centers and Crisis Stabilization Units
- $15 million to expand the elementary, middle and high school-based mental health program
- $9 million to expand tele-behavioral health services in public schools and on college campuses
- $20 million for partnerships with hospitals for alternatives to emergency departments for crisis
- $9 million for transportation and in-hospital monitoring by law enforcement and other personnel
- $8 million for Serious Mental Illness housing
- $57 million for 500 additional Medicaid Waiver Priority 1 Waitlist Slots and increased provider rates
- $15 million in opioid abatement initiatives, including a campaign to reduce fentanyl poisoning among youth
Youngkin emphasized one of the key components of the “Right Help, Right Now” plan is providing law enforcement with more resources to effectively respond to situations involving adults or children experiencing a mental health crisis.
During the event, the governor lauded Bob Mosier, the previous Fauquier County sheriff and former secretary of public safety and homeland security, for helping implement the county’s mental health co-response model in which a licensed clinician accompanies Warrenton police officers and Fauquier sheriff’s deputies on calls where an individual is experiencing a mental health crisis.
“We know that, at the end of the day, a behavioral health crisis can criminalize a moment that may otherwise be avoided,” Youngkin said.
Bob Mosier recites the Pledge of Allegiance during a ceremonial bill signing event June 14 outside Fauquier Health.
Youngkin also underscored the importance of reducing the waiting time for law enforcement, who sometimes wait for hours at the hospital with an individual – usually experiencing a mental health crisis – who is being held under a temporary detention order (TDO).
“TDOs are important and necessary, but they also routinely capture so much time from our law enforcement professionals who could otherwise be out doing so many other things,” Youngkin said. “This bill creates a responsive process to release a TDO to streamline patient flow in our emergency departments and alleviate the burden and get faster care.”
Youngkin said “jails and hospitals” are not places to address mental health issues. Instead, he said the state should provide alternatives to help alleviate the burden on other institutions and offer better options to those in crisis.
“It’s about changing the way we think about behavioral health. It’s about changing the way that we’re structured. It’s about bringing resources. It’s about changing processes, changing the workforce, and bringing it all to a whole new level that the commonwealth of Virginia has not seen,” Youngkin said.
