North Carolina health department awarded $2.5 million for school-based care

NORTH CAROLINA (WGHP) — The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services was awarded a $2.5 million grant from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to expand school-based health care in North Carolina, the health department reports.

North Carolina was one of 18 states to receive funding.

The grant is part of a nationwide initiative by CMS to invest $50 million from the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act into “helping states implement, enhance and expand the use of school-based health services through Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program.”

Passed in 2022, the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act is a school safety bill supporting mental health programs and school violence prevention.

NC Medicaid Deputy Secretary Jay Ludlam says this funding will help expand quality care to students who otherwise could not afford it.

“While school-based services are a great resource for all students, they can be especially important for children enrolled in Medicaid or CHIP whose families are disproportionately impacted by social determinants of health,” Ludlam said. “This new grant will help us expand eligibility for school-based services so that Medicaid- and CHIP-enrolled families have convenient access to preventive care, behavioral health and primary care services – available right at their child’s school whenever they need it.”

According to NCDHHS, more than 1,200 school staff across North Carolina have been trained in Youth Mental Health First Aid to “ensure they know how to identify and respond when students need support.”

“Unaddressed mental health needs translate into behavioral challenges that take school staff away from teaching and students away from the classroom,” said NCDHHS Director of Child and Family Strategy Hanaleah Levy Hoberman. “By investing in school-based health services, we’re giving schools the resources they need to better support students’ behavioral health, but also to improve academic performance, decrease suspensions, reduce chronic absenteeism and increase graduation rates.”

NCDHHS says it will use the funds to support schools over the next three years implementing policies from CMS that expand eligibility for school-based services to all students enrolled in Medicaid or CHIP.

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