Robert A. Cole, MHSA, Lecturer in Psychiatry at Yale School of Medicine and Chief Operating Officer of the Connecticut Mental Health Center (CMHC), spoke at a congressional staff briefing March 7 in Washington, D.C. on the crucial role of federal funding to support the integration of primary care in community-based behavioral health organizations.
The event was organized by the National Council for Behavioral Health, a non-profit association that advocates for policies that ensure people who have mental health and substance use disorders have access to comprehensive, evidence-based health care services.
CMHC has long been a national model for the integration of behavioral and primary care services in client treatment programs. “If you remember nothing else of what I said, without (federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration) grant funding, we would not have been able to start and sustain primary care integration,” Cole said at the briefing. “It just would not have been possible.”
During his visit, Cole met separately with health policy staff in the offices of Sen. Chris Murphy and Rep. Rosa DeLauro.