Health Agencies Scramble as North Dakota Loses Federal Grants

 Pam Sagness.  (Michael Achterling/North Dakota Monitor)

(By: Michael Achterling. North Dakota Monitor) – Some North Dakota health agencies are trying to adjust to the sudden loss of federal funding.

The North Dakota Department of Health and Human Services learned last week it lost about $3.2 million in federal funding for substance-use treatment and mental health programs after block grants were rescinded by a federal agency.

In an evening email on March 24, the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration told HHS that the COVID-19 pandemic-era grants were taken back in accordance with President Donald Trump’s executive order empowering the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency to cut costs.

Pam Sagness, executive director for the Behavioral Health Division for the Department of Health and Human Services, said in 2021 the department received the five block grants to target substance abuse prevention, treatment and mental health programming totaling about $9.5 million.

The funding for these grants came from the Coronavirus Preparedness and Response Supplemental Appropriations Act and the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.

The grants were scheduled to expire Sept. 30.