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Providers and survivors urge state funding boost as brain‑injury programs shrink
Summary
Nonprofit and specialized providers said Community HealthChoices reimbursement has not kept pace with costs, prompting program closures and discharges; providers requested a $13 million state investment (expected to draw federal match) and survivors described prolonged struggles to access timely care.
Kristen Ferry, executive vice president for policy and strategy at the Woods System of Care, and Dr. Victoria Harding of NeuroRestorative told the Human Services Committee that chronic underfunding for brain‑injury residential and rehabilitation services is forcing providers to close programs and discharge clients.
Ferry said Woods is a population‑health organization of 12 providers serving roughly 50,000 people in New Jersey and southeastern Pennsylvania; Woods’ Beechwood Neuro Rehab Program supports high‑acuity Community HealthChoices (CHC) clients. She said Woods has closed four homes in two years and discharged about 10 people because reimbursement does not cover care costs. "With the rates the way they are, we're losing about an average of a hundred and $50 a day per CHC client in our program," Ferry said.
Dr. Harding said NeuroRestorative and other providers operate at a loss under current CHC rates and called for the committee to support the BRAIN Injury Provider state budget request of $13,000,000; Harding said federal matching funds would raise the total to about $30,000,000. Harding said the funding would stabilize services, address staffing shortages and preserve specialized care that can reduce costly hospital returns and long‑term institutionalization.
Survivor Elaine Masters recounted a multi‑year struggle after a severe concussion and persistent symptoms. Masters said she was accepted into the Pennsylvania Head Injury Program and received cognitive rehabilitation that helped her regain daily function, but she described long delays obtaining home modifications and appeals with managed care that left her at risk of further injury. "Be aware that the choice to not fund services allowing for treatment sooner will not save money, but rather result in the need for a higher level of spending later on," Masters said.
Witnesses and committee members discussed options including restoring a separate line item for brain‑injury services instead of folding the funding into the large CHC line, commissioning a study of service capacity and wait lists, and expanding targeted funding to improve wages and retain trained cognitive‑therapy staff. Providers said many specialized services (behavioral therapy adapted for TBI, 1:1 staffing when needs escalate) are not reimbursed at rates that sustain the workforce; as a result, access erodes.
Ending: Providers requested near‑term budget relief and a longer‑term study of capacity and financing to preserve specialized brain‑injury care in the Commonwealth.
