Sponsors (6)
Creates a three-year VA pilot to grant $20M/year to eligible nonprofit outpatient mental health providers to deliver culturally competent, no-fee care to veterans and report outcomes.
Official title: To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to carry out a pilot program to provide grants to outpatient mental health facilities for the provision of culturally competent, evidence-based mental health care for veterans, and for other purposes.
Introduced March 24, 2025 by Mike Bost · Last progress March 24, 2025
The bill provides a targeted, three‑year, federally funded pilot to expand no‑fee, culturally competent community outpatient mental health care for veterans and build nonprofit capacity in high‑need areas, but modest funding, per‑facility caps, administrative rules, and the short pilot duration may limit scale, exclude some providers, and require additional taxpayer dollars.
Veterans, especially those with mental‑health or substance‑use needs, gain access to no‑fee, culturally competent, evidence‑based outpatient mental health care delivered by grant‑funded community providers in targeted high‑need areas.
Nonprofit community providers (including those in rural communities) receive capital and operating grants to open or operate outpatient mental health facilities, expanding local treatment capacity.
Veterans and health systems benefit from provisions that encourage VA enrollment and promote care continuity by permitting grant recipients to assist enrollment and obtain reimbursement through VA Community Care and other payers.
Nonprofit providers that rely heavily on prior federal grants face stricter caps and eligibility rules, which could exclude or limit support for organizations serving vulnerable communities.
The three‑year pilot timeframe may be too short to demonstrate sustained clinical outcomes or to allow community partners to build lasting capacity.
The per‑facility grant cap ($1.5M/year) may be insufficient for large urban providers to scale services, limiting the program's reach in high‑need population centers.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Creates a three-year VA pilot grant program to fund eligible nonprofit outpatient mental health providers to deliver culturally competent, evidence-based, no-fee outpatient mental health care to veterans and encourage VA enrollment. The VA must distribute grants across rural and urban areas, can prioritize high-need or medically underserved locations, require training, accountability, and data reporting, and report results to Congress. The program is authorized at $20 million per year for FY2025–2027.