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Kelly Crosby outlines budget cuts and opioid-reserve backfill for mental‑health safety net
Summary
At a DHHS webinar, Assistant Secretary Kelly Crosby described a $14 million cut to single‑stream safety‑net funding that the general assembly backfilled using opioid abatement reserve funds, warned that the reserve is a less secure source over time, and summarized related spending shifts affecting inpatient and jail-based treatment.
Assistant Secretary Kelly Crosby of the Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities and Substance Abuse Services told attendees of the division’s “Improving Our System Together” webinar that the recent state budget includes targeted cuts and one notable backfill affecting safety‑net services.
"It cuts 14,000,000, but then backfills that same 14,000,000 with opioid abatement reserve funds that go to the general assembly," Crosby said, noting most opioid‑related funding goes to counties but the general assembly controls the abatement reserve. She cautioned the reserve is "a less secure source of funding" that will not last in perpetuity and may decline over roughly 8–10 years.
Crosby said the budget did not add new cuts to single‑stream funds this year beyond prior reductions but included a statutory mechanism allowing Medicaid to transfer up to $30,000,000 into single‑stream funding if extra Medicaid dollars are available. She described single‑stream (IPRS) as critical safety‑net money used for mental‑health, substance‑use, IDD and traumatic brain injury services for uninsured and underinsured people.
She also described a $2,000,000 reduction this session in the general‑assembly funding for psychiatric inpatient stays in community hospitals (after an $18,000,000 cut in the prior session) and said the statute now permits using some of the remaining community inpatient funds for facility‑based crisis care, non‑hospital detoxes, and pure respites in addition to inpatient beds.
Crosby said the general assembly created a permanent grant program to support medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) in county jails, will issue an RFP for those funds, and directed about $4,000,000 of opioid reserve funds to local management entities (LMEs) plus $2,000,000 for naloxone procurement and distribution. She emphasized that legislative changes also require the division to work with the state Mental Health, Substance Use and IDD Commission on rules and implementation.
The announcement frames near‑term continuity of services but also a transition risk: officials and local partners will need to plan for a future when opioid‑abatement reserve revenue declines. Crosby said the department will convene advisory groups in the coming months to coordinate implementation of statutory changes.
