The Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) has approved a definition and description of a new category of provider agency, a Critical Access Behavioral Health Agency (CABHA). The CABHA represents a new category of provider agency for the delivery of mental health and substance abuse services.  CABHAs' may be for profit, not for profit, public, or private behavioral health care companies.

The Goals of Critical Access Behavioral Health Agencies

The Department’s goals in developing the Critical Access Behavioral Health Agency designation are to:

1. 1.Ensure that critical services are delivered by a clinically competent organization with appropriate medical oversight and the ability to deliver a robust array of services.
   

2. 2.Move the public system over time to a more coherent service delivery model that reduces clinical fragmentation at the local level and begins to prepare the provider community for the changes that will be required in a waiver environment.
   

3. 3.Ensure that consumer care is based upon a comprehensive clinical assessment and an appropriate array of services for the population to be served.
   

We are excited about our new CABHA designation.  We understand that this achievement would not have been possible had it not been for the hard work and diligence of all our staff.  “We have great trust and respect for our management team and know that with their help Uplift will remain a leader in the community” says Garrett Taylor, CEO of Uplift Comprehensive Services.  “We are excited about this new phase in our agency’s life and know that consumers will inevitably be the benefactors.” 

This new designation comes on the heels of Uplift’s 10 year anniversary.