INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Indiana is one of 10 states selected to participate in the federal government’s Medicaid Demonstration Program.

The four-year-pilot program will start in 2025. It’s designed to give Hoosiers on Medicaid access to expanded mental health services at eight Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics serving 40 counties.

Lindsay Potts, director of system transformation for Indiana Family and Social Services Administration‘s mental health division, said some of the new services will include giving people a safe place to go during a mental health crisis. Other services will include access to therapy, and an expanded 988 crisis line.

Potts said, “That includes a peer recovery specialist that can come to the home or come to the community and help de-escalate a situation or help an individual get to services they need. We see this as a big win for communities where crisis services tend to fall to law enforcement.”

Although services are available to Medicaid recipients, a Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic (CCBHC) can’t turn anyone away.

“The CCBHCs are required to take all forms of insurance, and, if they (the patients) don’t have insurance, they have a sliding-fee scale, so it is based on that person’s income,” Potts said.

A study by the Indianapolis-based Richard Fairbanks School of Public Health in 2023 says 429,000 Hoosiers have untreated or undertreated mental health issues. That data was used in legislation that allowed the state’s mental health division and addiction services to participate in the demonstration program.

“What we see with CCBHC is that this will grow even more because it allows for those teams to have a sustainable payment system that helps them continue to provide services indefinitely for those communities,” Potts said.

• PDF: Indiana Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic | Demonstration Pilot Site Overview
• Real Talk: Mental Health
• Watch ‘Health Spotlight: A News 8 Town Hall Special’

Mental health resources

• Be Well Indiana
• Indiana Suicide Prevention
• Indiana Department of Child Services’ Children’s Mental Health Initiative
• National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline: 988 or 800-273-8255
• More resources