Federal funding could provide immediate relief to Virginia's state hospitals

With Virginia's state‐run mental hospitals in the midst of a self‐described crisis, Gov. Ralph Northam is proposing a $485 million investment in behavioral health services, the Virginia Mercury reported July 29. The proposed allotment was announced last month ahead of this week's special General Assembly session, where lawmakers will decide how to distribute $4.3 billion in federal relief funding. Mental health funding has been a closely watched initiative since the state halted new admissions to more than half of its publicly funded psychiatric facilities amid major, and widespread, staffing shortages (see MHW , July 19). Just over half of the proposal — $247 million in total — would use flexible funding from the American Rescue Plan, largely to address urgent staffing needs within the facilities, according to Secretary of Finance Joe Flores. Another $128 million comes from nonflexible aid specifically earmarked in the last two congressional relief packages for community‐based mental health and substance abuse services. The majority of those earmarked funds will go directly to community services boards — local agencies that provide safety net services to Virginians with mental health and substance use disorders as well as those with developmental disabilities. But the governor is also proposing another $30 million in rescue plan funding for local crisis services, including mobile units to respond to patients experiencing a mental health emergency.