Promoting Integration of Primary and Behavioral Health Care | SM 17 008

Opportunity Information: Apply for SM 17 008

The FY 2017 Promoting Integration of Primary and Behavioral Health Care (PIPBHC) opportunity is a SAMHSA Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS) cooperative agreement designed to help communities move beyond having separate medical and behavioral health systems and instead deliver coordinated, fully integrated care. The core aim is to strengthen day-to-day clinical collaboration between primary care and behavioral health providers so people can receive “whole-person” services that address mental health, substance use, and physical health needs together rather than in disconnected settings. In practical terms, the program emphasizes building and improving integrated care models that measurably improve overall wellness and physical health outcomes, particularly for adults with serious mental illness (SMI) and for children and adolescents with serious emotional disturbance (SED). Alongside integration itself, the grant prioritizes services that combine screening, diagnosis, prevention, and treatment for mental and substance use disorders with care for co-occurring physical health conditions and chronic diseases.

A major expectation of the program is that grantees will offer a continuum of prevention, treatment, and recovery support services within the integrated care approach. This means the work is not limited to clinical treatment alone; it is also expected to include upstream prevention and early identification, coordinated interventions for co-occurring conditions, and recovery-oriented supports that help people sustain health gains over time. The grant is explicitly tied to populations identified in the 21st Century Cures Act, and applicants must specify which of these groups they will serve through integrated care services. The eligible target groups include: adults with mental illness who also have physical health conditions or chronic diseases; adults with SMI who also have physical health conditions or chronic diseases; children and adolescents with SED who also have physical health conditions or chronic diseases; and individuals with a substance use disorder. Applicants are expected to clearly indicate one or more of these special populations in their project design and describe how integrated services will be delivered to them.

Program design is also driven by the requirement to focus on areas or populations of high need. Applicants must select qualified community programs or community health centers that serve high-need communities, using SAMHSA’s guidance (referenced as Appendix I, “Guidelines for Selecting Communities of High Need”). In addition, applicants must identify the number of behavioral health and/or health provider organizations that will participate, which highlights that this program is meant to operate through formal partnerships rather than a single organization working alone. Because this is a cooperative agreement (not a standard grant), recipients should also anticipate a more active federal role in shaping, supporting, and monitoring implementation, consistent with how cooperative agreements typically function.

Administratively, this is a discretionary funding opportunity from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services through SAMHSA (CFDA 93.243), issued under Funding Opportunity Number SM-17-008. Applications were opened March 16, 2017, with an original closing date of May 17, 2017. SAMHSA anticipated making 11 awards, with an award ceiling of up to $2,000,000. Eligibility is listed broadly as “Others,” with details to be clarified in the opportunity’s eligibility section, signaling that applicants needed to carefully confirm whether their organization type and proposed partnerships met SAMHSA’s criteria.

Finally, the PIPBHC program is positioned as part of SAMHSA’s broader Strategic Initiative on Health Care and Health Systems Integration and is authorized by Section 9003 of the 21st Century Cures Act (P.L. 114-255) and Section 520K of the Public Health Service Act, as amended. The opportunity also aligns with Healthy People 2020 priorities, specifically the Mental Health and Mental Disorders topic area (HP 2020-MHMD) and the Substance Abuse topic area (HP 2020-SA-8), reinforcing that the intent is not only better coordination of services, but demonstrable improvement in health outcomes for populations most affected by co-occurring behavioral and physical health conditions.

• The Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Adminis in the health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Promoting Integration of Primary and Behavioral Health Care" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.243.
• This funding opportunity was created on Mar 16, 2017.
• Applicants must submit their applications by May 17, 2017. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $2,000,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 11 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

Apply for SM 17 008

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