New Jersey Funds Nonprofits to Integrate Mental, Physical Care
New Jersey's Department of Human Services awarded contracts to two nonprofit community health systems, about $391,000 to St. James Health in Newark and nearly $275,000 to Zufall Health, to expand integrated behavioral and physical health care at a single location. Funding comes from federal opioid-focused dollars and flows through a program letting federally funded primary care clinics add behavioral health screening and addiction treatment without extra licensing. The awards follow a spring 2026 state regulatory change, effective in April, that created a single license for facilities offering both behavioral and physical health services, replacing a previously fragmented three-process, two-agency licensing system. Zufall has received the state's first integrated care license under the new rules, with roughly 20 more applications pending, reflecting growing provider interest in co-locating services for low-income patients with mental health, substance use, and chronic physical conditions.