March 31, 2025
AUGUSTA -- The Maine Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) today provided additional details on the impact from the termination of nearly $91 million in federal public health and behavioral health grants to Maine.
The termination of these grants, which was effective March 24, 2025, will have significant effects on essential public health services, as well as behavioral health and substance use disorder programs in Maine.
The six terminated grants supported a variety of initiatives through the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Maine CDC) and the Office of Behavioral Health (OBH). The cuts will directly impact work by more than 70 vendors and the termination of at least 40 contracted personnel at Maine CDC.
"The termination of these grants will compromise Maine's ability to respond to disease outbreaks, maintain vaccine availability, address health disparities, and support community-based health workforce efforts," said Maine DHHS Commissioner Sara Gagné-Holmes. "Additionally, these cuts threaten critical planned investments in mental health and substance use disorder services. Maine DHHS is continuing to evaluate the full impact of these cuts to these important public health and behavioral services."
The majority of the funding cuts impact the Maine CDC's programs, totaling approximately $88 million, including:
- Immunization Cooperative Agreements, impacting vaccine distribution, public education, and disease response.
- Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity (ELC) grants, weakening disease monitoring, laboratory testing, and outbreak management.
- Health Disparities Grants, eliminating investments aimed at addressing health inequities among vulnerable populations.
- Community Health Worker programs, interrupting key community health worker infrastructure efforts and asthma education initiatives and rural health services.
"These actions jeopardize critical public health response capabilities and services, and weaken our state's public health infrastructure," said Dr. Puthiery Va, Director of the Maine CDC. "Our partners, vendors, and contracted staff have been integral to the Maine CDC and are essential to our public health efforts, and these terminations have had a profound impact to these organizations, community partners, and individuals."
Maine's Office of Behavioral Health faces nearly $3 million in federal funding reductions, directly impacting critical services and infrastructure within our community-based behavioral health system, including public health substance abuse prevention programs and activities. Maine DHHS will need to reevaluate existing resources to ensure the continuity of these essential services, including:
- Training in evidence-based practices for providers to facilitate the delivery of services for adolescents with co-occurring disorders
- Statewide substance use prevention and recovery programs for youth
- School-based mental health programs that support increased access to counseling services
- Early intervention, identification and treatment services for individuals experiencing first episodes of psychosis
"These community-based and safety net services are key to Maine's continuum of behavioral health services," said Sarah Squirrell, Director of the Office of Behavioral Health. "Protecting and preserving access to these critical programs and supports is essential, especially as we work to address increasing behavioral health needs across our state."
Maine DHHS continues to assess and track the immediate impacts of these federal grant terminations on vendors, contracted personnel, and critical community services. Without federal funding, sustaining these essential health services presents a significant challenge.