Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Private Provider Funding topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Private behavioral-health provider urges annualizing ARPA funds and 3% rate increase
Summary
Containment Care’s CEO told the Appropriations Committee private providers face rising costs and staffing shortages and asked the legislature to annualize ARPA funding and provide at least a 3% increase in the next biennial budget.
Jim Ferrellas, president and CEO of Containment Care, urged the Appropriations Committee to increase funding for private providers that deliver mental health, developmental disability and substance-use services.
Ferrellas said Containment Care operates 60 programs serving more than 2,500 people statewide and that rising operating costs — utilities, food, insurance and transportation — have outpaced contract increases. He said the state’s contract increases have not kept up with wage and cost inflation, and that the nonprofit has lost staff to higher-paying employers, forcing program closures and reduced service capacity.
He asked the legislature to annualize ARPA funding used last year to support staff and to provide “at the very least a 3% annual increase in the next biennial budget.” He said reduced capacity was driven by staffing shortages rather than lack of need.
No formal committee action on the request was recorded during this hearing.
