American Rescue Plan Act (ARP) of 2021: Section 9813 State Planning Grants for Qualifying Community-Based Mobile Crisis Intervention Services | CMS 2I2 21 001

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The American Rescue Plan Act (ARP) of 2021 Section 9813 State Planning Grants for Qualifying Community-Based Mobile Crisis Intervention Services is a federal funding opportunity from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). It was designed to help state Medicaid agencies plan and prepare to add or expand a Medicaid benefit focused on community-based mobile crisis intervention for people experiencing a mental health and/or substance use disorder (MH/SUD) crisis. In plain terms, CMS offered states targeted planning money so they could build the policy, operational, and program groundwork needed to deliver crisis services in the community, rather than relying primarily on emergency departments, inpatient settings, or law enforcement responses.

The core purpose of the Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) is to solicit applications for planning grants that support development of Medicaid authorities needed to cover these services. States can use the funding to design and draft the required Medicaid approaches, including State Plan Amendments (SPAs), Section 1115 demonstration requests, and/or Section 1915(b) and 1915(c) waiver requests or amendments. The emphasis on multiple Medicaid pathways matters because states are organized differently and may need different legal and program vehicles to implement a mobile crisis benefit that meets local needs while still complying with federal Medicaid rules. The grant is specifically about planning and development work that enables implementation, not simply general behavioral health programming.

The services at the center of the opportunity are "qualifying community-based mobile crisis intervention services" for Medicaid recipients who are experiencing an MH/SUD crisis in community settings. The intent is to support crisis response capacity that can meet people where they are, using mobile teams and community-based interventions. This reflects a broader policy goal of improving timely crisis access, stabilizing individuals in less restrictive settings when appropriate, and strengthening the continuum of behavioral health crisis care. The planning work supported under this NOFO would typically involve defining the service model, outlining provider requirements and staffing expectations, determining eligibility and access routes, establishing reimbursement methodologies, coordinating with managed care plans where applicable, and ensuring linkages with other crisis system components (for example, call centers, dispatch, stabilization services, and follow-up care).

Eligibility is limited to State Medicaid Agencies (state governments), which aligns with the fact that only state Medicaid agencies can submit and implement SPAs and waivers for Medicaid coverage. The opportunity is categorized as discretionary funding and uses a cooperative agreement funding instrument, meaning CMS would have a more engaged partnership role than in a standard grant structure. The funding activity category is Health, and the CFDA number associated with the opportunity is 93.639.

Administratively, the opportunity is identified as CMS-2I2-21-001. The NOFO was created on July 13, 2021, with an original application closing date of August 13, 2021. CMS anticipated making about 20 awards, with an award ceiling of up to $1,000,000 per award. In practice, that ceiling indicates CMS expected states to use the funds for concentrated planning tasks such as policy development, actuarial and rate considerations, stakeholder engagement, implementation planning, data and evaluation planning, and Medicaid documentation preparation rather than long-term service delivery costs.

Overall, this ARP Section 9813 planning grant opportunity was built to accelerate state readiness to implement a Medicaid-covered mobile crisis intervention benefit for MH/SUD crises, by paying for the upfront work required to develop the necessary Medicaid authorities and operational plans. The end goal is a more responsive, community-based crisis system for Medicaid beneficiaries, grounded in Medicaid policy mechanisms that can sustain the service beyond the initial planning period.

• The Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Medicare Medicaid Services in the health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "American Rescue Plan Act (ARP) of 2021: Section 9813 State Planning Grants for Qualifying Community-Based Mobile Crisis Intervention Services" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.639.
• This funding opportunity was created on Jul 13, 2021.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Aug 13, 2021. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $1,000,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 20 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

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