Oregon Health Authority reports CCBHC pilot showed higher quality, modest cost offsets; OHA readies Medicaid state-plan expansion

Oregon Health Authority officials on Feb. 6 told the Joint Interim Subcommittee on Human Services that the state’s Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics (CCBHC) demonstration produced better quality measures and reductions in high-cost services compared with non‑CCBHC programs, and that the agency is pursuing a Medicaid State Plan Amendment to make the model permanent.

The OHA presentation, given by Dr. Krista Jones, deputy director for the Behavioral Health Division, and Shauna McDermott, deputy director for Medicaid services and engagement, summarized a legislatively required evaluation of the CCBHC pilot covering the 2021–2023 biennia. “The CCBHC program is a federal demonstration pilot…with an innovative payment model, the Prospective Payment System, and a set of stringent clinical and operational standards,” Dr. Jones said. OHA said the program is overseen by SAMHSA, CMS and ASPE.

Why it matters: The evaluation was requested in the 2023 budget note (Senate Bill 5525) and examined use of funds, barriers to full utilization, health outcomes, costs, and the effects of ending the pilot. OHA told lawmakers that because the agency has submitted a State Plan Amendment under 2024’s House Bill 4002, items about redirecting funding and ending the pilot are…