References to Evidence-Based Program Registry (EBPR) Websites for Behavioral Health in U.S. State Government Statutes and Regulations

U.S. state governments have the responsibility to regulate and license behavioral health care interventions, such as for addiction and mental illness, with increasing emphasis on implementing evidence-based programs (EBPs). A serious obstacle to this is lack of clarity or agreement about what constitutes “evidence-based.” The study’s purpose was to determine the extent to which and in what contexts web-based Evidence-based Program Registries (EBPRs) are referenced in state government statutes and regulations (“mandates”) concerning behavioral health care. The study employed the Westlaw Legal Research Database to search for 30 known EBPR websites relevant to behavioral health care within the statutes and regulations of all 50 states. Questions of interest included prevalence of EBPR references in statutes and regulations, purpose of references to EBPRs, context of references to EBPRs, and service areas represented by the mandates. <br>