JSI Awarded HRSA Center of Excellence for Behavioral Health Technical Assistance

Nationally, one in five individuals lives with mental illness or addiction, a statistic that is on the rise due to increasing numbers of people who struggle with opioid misuse. In its continued effort to support the health care needs and reduce the increasing opioid misuse rates, the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, will establish a new Center of Excellence for Behavioral Health Technical Assistance (COE for BHTA) for its own HRSA-funded recipients.

The HRSA COE for BHTA, which will be developed and managed by John Snow, Inc. (JSI), will be a three-year, $27 million program providing training and technical assistance to support the integration of behavioral health services, including opioid use and substance use disorder services into primary care.

HRSA-funded grantees meet the needs of people who are underserved, such as residents of rural areas, women and children, migrant workers, Native Americans, individuals transitioning from incarceration to community care, and dually diagnosed persons, among others. These grantees serve populations who are disproportionately poor, uninsured, or publicly insured; who have multiple medical and behavioral health comorbidities; and who are racial or ethnic minorities.

Through the HRSA COE for BHTA, JSI and partners will provide training and technical assistance to HRSA-funded recipients and their partners to support high-quality behavioral health and substance use disorder services within their own programs. The COE for BHTA will collect and promote the latest evidence to inform programs and ensure that the services are culturally and linguistically appropriate and competent.

A national team of experts has been assembled to provide targeted training and technical services to the HRSA grantees. JSI’s partners include the National Council for Behavioral Health, Advocates for Human Potential, the Bizzell Group, the National Health Care for the Homeless Council, and Ten Mile Square.

This work builds on JSI’s 40 years of collaboration with HRSA and the implementation of multiple national- and state-level training and technical assistance centers. We have extensive experience working with many of HRSA’s bureaus/offices and their grantees, giving us a strong understanding of the contexts and day-to-day operations of these organizations, and the challenges and triumphs they experience in meeting the needs of the populations they serve.