Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Mental Health Centers topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Mental-health providers urge 5% rate increase, higher pay for community mental health centers
Summary
Community mental health providers and the Association for Behavioral Health Care told the committee that chronic underfunding has driven staff losses, wait lists and clinic closures and asked for S.874/H.1396 to raise outpatient behavioral-health rates and pay mental health centers at least 20% more than comparable independent practitioners.
BOSTON — Mental-health provider organizations, clinicians and advocates urged the Joint Committee on Health Care Financing to report favorably on S.874/H.1396, legislation to increase reimbursement for outpatient behavioral-health services and to set higher minimum rates for licensed community mental health centers.
Lydia Conley, president and CEO of the Association for Behavioral Health Care, told lawmakers the bill would recognize the additional staffing and regulatory requirements at licensed mental health centers — requirements such as a medical director, mandatory minimum hours and after-hours coverage — by increasing rates for outpatient mental-health services by 5% and ensuring mental health center rates are at least 20% higher than comparable services delivered by independent practitioners.
Conley and other witnesses said the differential recognizes costs that community clinics absorb when they provide trainings, multidisciplinary teams and supervision for trainees. "Mental-health centers are the safety net — they accept MassHealth, provide training, and offer access that many private clinicians do not," Conley said.
Multiple provider CEOs described chronic operating losses and staff turnover. Darice Cox, president and CEO of Baystate Community Services, said her organization had closed three mental-health centers in recent years for financial reasons despite continuing demand. Victor Gravio of Riverside Community Care said his organization expects a $2 million loss this year in outpatient mental-health services and has begun reducing access to remain fiscally viable.
Witnesses said the vacancies and losses translate directly into long waits for care. The Association’s survey in 2022 found mental-health centers reported roughly 14,000 people waiting for services and average waits of more than three months for ongoing child therapy; several providers said current waits for some services exceed those levels. Providers said rate increases and scheduled rate reviews would allow centers to raise salaries, retain staff and reduce waits.
Several testifiers also described the training role of mental-health centers. They said centers provide the pipeline of clinicians who go on to work in primary care, hospitals and schools, and that losses at centers would shrink the broader behavioral-health workforce. MAMH and provider witnesses urged the committee to approve an ongoing scheduled biennial review of rates so MassHealth could better track wage increases and operating costs.
The committee heard emotional testimony from agency leaders and clinicians, and from parents and clinical supervisors who described children waiting for care. Chairs accepted written and oral testimony and did not take a committee vote during the hearing.
