Four health centers in West Virginia will expand behavioral health services using funds from the Affordable Care Act.
Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell announced almost a million dollars in funds from the federal health care act will support and expand services for about 29,000 West Virginians that seek treatment from those 4 health centers.
They include Lincoln County Primary Care Center in Hamlin, Shenandoah Valley Medical Systems in Martinsburg, Valley Health Systems in Huntington, and Wirt County Health Service Association in Elizabeth.
Each will receive about $250,000.
West Virginia’s appropriation is part of almost $55 million announced for distribution to 221 health centers across the country.
The centers can use these new funds to hire mental health professionals, add mental health and substance abuse health services, and to impliment integrated models of primary care.
The health care act expanded mental health and substance use disorder benefits for approximately 60 million Americans, including 322,000 West Virginians.