Overview
The Mobile Applications Grant is a new $3 million grant to help Massachusetts behavioral health providers implement, use, track, and report results on mobile applications within their practice. Specifically, this grant will help behavioral health providers support Medicaid members with access to behavioral health apps.
In pursuit of that goal, the Mobile Applications Grant seeks to:
- Increase access to therapeutic extension services via behavioral health mobile applications
- Improve efficiency in the delivery of services
- Gauge user experience, clinical outcomes, and clinician experience with behavioral health mobile applications
Applicants can use grant funds to cover mobile app subscription fees or staff training costs as necessary for their program.
Who can apply?
Any Massachusetts behavioral health provider that offers behavioral health services to Medicaid members can apply.
Grant funding can only be applied to programming for Medicaid members.
Eligible Activities
Applicants can use funding to cover expenses needed to implement, use, and track behavioral health mobile applications, including:
- Mobile app subscription costs
- Staff training costs
Qualifying programs will implement evidence-based mobile applications that focus on one or more of the following clinical areas:
- Anxiety
- Substance Use Disorder
- Medication management for schizophreniform, schizophrenia, and schizoaffective disorders
Applicants can select mobile applications that include a variety of features necessary for their program. That includes, but is not limited to:
- Skills training modules
- Psychoeducation modules
- Tracking and monitoring features
- Apps that facilitate text messaging, audio chat, or video chat interactions
Regardless of the app chosen, applicant’s proposals should be supported by studies showing evidence-based benefits for users. Apps should also comply with standards set by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
Awardees must expend funds by March 31, 2025, unless otherwise directed by EOEA.
Ineligible Expenses
Applicants cannot use grant funding to sustain existing mobile applications.
Grants funds also cannot support mobile applications that include the following features:
- Telehealth therapy sessions
- Communication features designed to replace the therapeutic relationship with the provider
Additional ineligible expenses include, but are not limited to:
- Equipment purchases
- Ongoing operating costs
- Loan repayment, retention bonuses, referral bonuses, or recruitment bonuses
- Temporary salary increases
- Transportation
- Internet, hot spot, or utility payments
- Capital expenses
In addition to the above restrictions, grant funds must not overlap with any Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) waiver extension proposals.
Expenses that occurred before the contract start date or after the contract end date will not be reimbursed.
EOHHS may reject, in whole or in part, any applications that include ineligible expenses.
Helpful Resources
Questions
For questions about the grant program, please email MAHCBSGrants@pcgus.com. You must submit any questions before the deadline, which is February 14, 2024
Questions will not be answered individually. On or around February 21, 2024, answers to all submitted questions will be posted on the EOHHS website.
You cannot make any changes to your grant application after it is submitted.