Shepherd Pratt tells Finance Committee CCBHCs cut ED visits and warns grant-based funding is unsustainable
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Summary
Marshall Henson of Shepherd Pratt told the Finance Committee CCBHC services reduced emergency department visits by 45% among their clients and improved chronic disease indicators, but the provider warned that time-limited grant funding is unsustainable without federal payment or bridge funding.
Marshall Henson, vice president and chief operating officer for community services at Shepherd Pratt, gave the committee a provider perspective on CCBHCs, their outcomes and operational constraints.
"We serve 80,000 Marylanders, each and every year," Henson said, describing Shepherd Pratt’s statewide footprint across 400 sites and 16 jurisdictions and noting the organization has established two CCBHCs serving about 2,400 people.
Henson highlighted clinical outcomes tied to the CCBHC model: "we have seen ... a 45% reduction in emergency department visits for that client population across the state," and he cited improvements in physical health measures, telling the committee Shepherd Pratt observed over 55% of clients with hypertension reduce blood pressure to healthy levels and 59% of clients with diabetes lower their A1c.
Henson framed the CCBHC payment model as necessary to fund a team-based approach that includes care coordination and services between billed encounters: under Maryland’s current outpatient-fee-for-service methodology, he said clinics are reimbursed for episodic encounters rather than for the intensive, ongoing work required for high-acuity patients.
On sustainability, Shepherd Pratt warned that operating a federally defined model without federal payment is difficult to sustain: "our grant ends, September 29," Henson said, and the organization called attention to the operational uncertainty if a long-term reimbursement pathway is not secured.
The provider asked the committee to account for the savings that come from preventing ED visits and inpatient stays when evaluating funding choices and urged that any timetable for demonstrating or implementing CCBHCs consider workforce and budget realities for providers relying on time-limited grant funds.