§14. Funding priorities; cost-effectiveness

            A. The department may ensure that all current and future funds are expended in the most cost-effective manner and services are provided in accordance with recommended best practices subject to state oversight to ensure accountability to taxpayers and the public. The department may evaluate existing proposed expenditure plans for behavioral health services and determine the best use of such funds to achieve positive policy outcomes in the behavioral health community. This effort may involve the use of innovative methods of expanding the reach of current funding and securing increased local, regional, state, federal, or private source funding in the future. The department may develop methods for estimating the need for behavioral health services in certain regions of the state, with special attention to underfunded and inaccessible programs, and allocate state funds or resources according to that need.

            B. The state may continue to provide funding for behavioral health services that are not less than the existing allocations from the state general fund.

            Acts 2012, No. 506, §1; Acts 2017, No. 369, §2.