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DPHHS director briefs House Health and Human Services on $300M behavioral-health plan, Medicaid unwinding and timeline to recertify state hospital
Summary
DPHHS Director Charlie Brereton told the House Health and Human Services Committee the department is focusing on behavioral-health reforms funded by a $300 million 2023 appropriation (House Bill 872), the Medicaid redetermination that removed about 129,000 enrollees, provider rate increases for the 2025 biennium, IT modernization and a 12–18 month timeline before the Montana State Hospital can apply for federal recertification.
Charlie Brereton, director of the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services, told the House Health and Human Services Committee that the agency is a statewide operation with nearly 3,000 employees and a roughly $7,000,000,000 biennial budget and outlined what he described as the department’s top priorities for the coming biennium.
Brereton highlighted behavioral health and developmental-disability reform as a top priority, pointing to the "historic $300,000,000 that the legislature cleared in 2023" and the work of the Behavioral Health System for Future Generations (BISFIG) Commission. He said the commission produced a final report with just over 20 recommendations, several of which the governor included in his 2027 biennium budget proposals, and he encouraged committee engagement as those budget conversations…
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