[co-authors: Kimberly Herbert, Bridget Bishop]

On July 8, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) released two Notices of Funding Opportunities directing $27.5 million to initiatives addressing behavioral health care for women:

• The Community-Based Maternal Behavioral Health Services Program aims to streamline community referral pathways for women in their perinatal or postpartum periods to receive behavioral health services, including substance use care, and provide access to short-term transitional services for certain individuals. SAMHSA anticipates that the $15 million in funding announced for this program will support six projects over five years.
• The Women’s Behavioral Health Technical Assistance Center will focus on training and technical assistance for providers who treat women experiencing, or at risk of experiencing, mental health and substance use conditions and who seek to incorporate evidence-based practices into their care. The program will receive $12.5 million in funding, which will support one five-year project.

The SAMHSA initiatives are the most recent government initiatives attempting to address poor maternal health outcomes in the United States, of which mental health is a critical component. One in five pregnant women experience mental health issues during pregnancy or after birth, and the "leading drivers of maternal morbidity and mortality in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) are associated with treatable conditions such as mental health, substance use disorders, and hypertension and cardiovascular conditions.” Twenty-three percent of pregnancy-related deaths involve a mental health condition as the underlying cause, and opioid-related overdoses have become a leading cause of death in the pregnancy and postpartum period.

The Biden Administration has made addressing the United States’ maternal health crisis—and its disparate impact on people of color—a top priority. With Medicaid playing an integral role in maternal health, many federal initiatives addressing maternal health to date have focused on providing additional state funding to implement maternal health initiatives in the Medicaid program. In 2021, the American Rescue Plan Act provided states with the opportunity to increase their ability to provide continuous Medicaid and CHIP coverage after pregnancy from 60 days to a full year. And at the end of 2023, The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation announced a new voluntary model, called Transforming Maternal Health, to offer participating state Medicaid agencies funding to (1) increase access to foundational maternal resources, (2) improve clinical quality outcomes for pregnant women, and (3) develop a whole-person approach to maternal health care that addresses the physical health, mental health and social needs women experience during pregnancy.