As of December 18, 2024, 47 states and the District of Columbia had enacted their fiscal year (FY) 2025 budgets. CHA has updated its state behavioral health initiative tracker to incorporate information on states’ pediatric behavioral health funding priorities. For information about governors’ FY 2025 pediatric behavioral health budget requests, see the CHA FY 2025 proposed budget tracker.
According to our review of the state budgets, investments in children's behavioral health programs continue to be an ongoing and growing priority for states. Key themes across the states include:
- A focus on school-based behavioral health services.
- Investments in the behavioral health workforce.
- Increases in Medicaid provider reimbursement for behavioral health services.
Highlights of states’ pediatric-focused behavioral health initiatives can be found below.
Supporting and expanding school-based behavioral health services
Fourteen states funded school-based behavioral health initiatives.
- Six states funded increases in the number of behavioral health providers in schools.
- Nine state budgets include funding to expand access to behavioral health services in school settings.
Investing in the behavioral health workforce
Twenty-seven state budgets include funding to strengthen the overall behavioral health workforce and provider infrastructure. Seven states targeted pediatric providers, specifically, these are bolded within the chart.
- Twenty-two state budgets include funding for behavioral health provider loan repayment programs.
- Eighteen state budgets target funding towards behavioral health provider recruitment and retention efforts.
Increasing Medicaid reimbursement rates
- Eight states are increasing Medicaid payment for behavioral health services.
Most of these increases are not targeted to pediatric providers or services. Examples of these initiatives include the following:
- One state is increasing Medicaid rates for behavioral health providers that specifically serve children.
- Five state budgets include funding to increase Medicaid reimbursement rates for behavioral health services.
The CHA FY 2025 enacted state budget tracker will be updated after all state legislatures have completed their sessions and all enacted state budgets become publicly available for review.
Last year’s FY 2024 enacted state budget tracker can be found here for reference.
