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Baltimore council committee presses for stronger oversight as state rewrites behavioral-health regulations
Summary
Baltimore City's Public Health and Environment Committee heard updates on provider accountability, the COMAR 10.63 rewrite and access measures such as 988. Behavioral Health System Baltimore outlined new licensing expectations and promised aggregate audit data for the council to inform budget and oversight decisions.
Councilwoman Felicia Porter convened the Public Health and Environment Committee to continue a series of oversight sessions on behavioral health in Baltimore City, calling for concrete interventions to improve quality at recovery homes and clinics.
"We cannot keep having these same conversations ... without some intervention," Porter said as she opened the committee hearing. The meeting began with public testimony and agency presentations intended to clarify where the city's system can strengthen monitoring and outcomes.
Adrienne Bridenstine, vice president of policy and communications at Behavioral Health System Baltimore (BHSB), told the committee the public behavioral-health system in Baltimore City served more than 150,000 unique people in the most recent year of available data and that roughly $500,000,000 is invested annually across mental health and substance-use services in the city. BHSB said it also manages about $64,000,000 in grant-funded services that are not…
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