Here are 12 investments into mental healthcare totaling $1.2 billion that have been reported by Becker's since Feb. 2:
1. UnitedHealth Group formed a $3.2 million grant partnership with East Carolina University in Greenville, N.C., to expand the school's telepsychiatry program. The three-year partnership will increase and improve telepsychiatry services in the state's underserved areas.
2. Local divisions of Aetna Better Health and Community Care invested a total of $1.2 million to develop a new mental health counseling graduate program at West Virginia Wesleyan College in Buckhannon.
3. PESI, an education nonprofit group based in Eau Claire, Wis., donated $1.25 million to the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine to support research on therapies for post-traumatic stress disorder.
4. The Pennsylvania Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs awarded almost $9 million in grant funding to four single county authorities across the state to expand or establish crisis stabilization services for residents with concurrent mental health and substance use disorders.
5. Pennsylvania's Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs awarded the Blair Drug and Alcohol Partnerships $772,000 to create a behavioral health unit at the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center in Altoona.
6. The Blue Cross Blue Shield Arizona Foundation plans to invest $1 million toward statewide mental health initiatives at educational institutions, nonprofit organizations and community programs.
7. Peekskill, N.Y.-based Sun River Health was granted $3.8 million to expand two of its community care centers.2/7
8. Rhode Island legislators have further developed their plans for a $100 million enhancement of the Eleanor Slater Hospital in Burrille. The project to improve the psychiatric hospital includes the development of a new facility and enhanced services.
9. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul outlined her more than $1 billion, multiyear initiative to overhaul the state's "strained" and "suffering" mental healthcare system. Here is a breakdown of the plan
10. A South Dakota legislative committee unanimously decided to advance a bill that would set aside $20 million in scholarships for students going into behavioral health careers. The state's Joint Committee on Appropriations will review the legislation next.
11. NOCD, a virtual mental health treatment provider specializing in obsessive-compulsive disorder, raised $34 million in a funding round led by Cigna Ventures and 7wireVentures.
12. A partnership between Los Angeles County, L.A. Care Health Plan and Centene's Health Net will use a $24 million investment to offer free mental telehealth services to 1.3 million public school students.