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Committee considers bill to let behavioral health regions expand services and broaden housing aid eligibility
Summary
Sen. Dan Quick told the HHS Committee LB454 would let regional behavioral health authorities expand services within their existing provider networks without going through a time‑consuming public RFP process and would clarify that regions may use housing assistance funds to serve people with substance use disorders.
Senator Dan Quick, sponsor of LB454, told the Health and Human Services Committee the bill is intended to increase access to behavioral health services by giving regional behavioral health authorities (RBHAs) more procedural flexibility when contracting with providers and by clarifying that the regions’ housing assistance funds may be used for people with primary substance use disorder diagnoses as well as for people with serious mental illness.
Under current law, Quick said, regions must run a public competitive bidding process to enroll or expand providers; the bill would allow regions to contract directly with existing providers in their networks to add services and to run one‑year pilot projects approved by HHS without the full RFP process. Supporters said the RFP requirement often slows efforts to start…
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