NYS Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare

Yesterday, New York Nonprofit News First Read featured the work of the NYS Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare and specifically, our relentless pursuit of an insurance mandate that will fundamentally change the lives of New Yorkers with private insurance who are struggling to find services through New York's public mental hygiene system. The new commercial rate mandate will require commercial insurers to pay OASAS and OMH outpatient services at a rate that (at a minimum) equals the mandated reimbursement rate the state pays for services to Medicaid beneficiaries. Great thanks are due to Governor Hochul and all state leaders for taking action to address the critical need for increased access to addiction and mental health care for ALL New Yorkers (regardless of the insurance card in their pocket). I am endlessly grateful for the privilege of leading an association composed of exceptional providers who are all deeply committed to increasing access to care. While not always headline grabbing, this ongoing work has changed countless lives across New York. We are a mighty army! #NYSCouncilAdvocacyWorks! https://lnkd.in/eKRXjaKa

Recently the NYS Council spoke to Mental Health Weekly about a new landmark budget provision that will undoubtedly improve access to care through New York's community-based mental health and substance use disorder agencies for those with commercial insurance. The provision was hard fought - our association pressed for over a decade to compel state leaders to make this historic change. Many thanks to Governor Hochul, members of the NYS Legislature and all of the many state agency staff and state regulators that made this change a reality! Here's the story in the May 13, 2024 Mental Health Weekly published by Wiley: https://lnkd.in/eiH-ZbF4

So proud to work beside this extraordinary leader and exceptional human being.

Today's Albany Times Union includes an article (linked below) describing the emergency actions being taken by the Hochul Administration to attract new state workers to fill job vacancies in the public sector. This is an important effort. But with job vacancy rates hovering in the 20% range across the (mostly not for profit) community-based mental health and substance use disorder systems of care where agencies have been struggling for years to ensure continued access to care for New Yorkers seeking services through New York's mental hygiene system, why are we not included in this effort? Community-based organizations are the safety net for hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers and yet we are too often left to fend for ourselves as we struggle to recruit and attract the staff we need. How is it different from the struggle the state faces? Waiving the state exam that is required before new workers can join the state workforce is a smart strategy but with starting salaries already significantly higher than those we can pay for comparable work, this effort will inevitably drain our workforce as staff seek better pay and benefits. And who can blame them? This should not be a competition but it will be. We need workforce solutions that go beyond a COLA and loan forgiveness. We need laser-focused leadership from the Administration that addresses the core barriers we face. And we need a commitment from all state leaders to prioritize our needs, to acknowledge and reward our outcomes and the efficient and effective manner in which we perform our work each day. Let's make the work less stressful and care for the mental health of those who work for us. Let's engage in a time-limited exercise to deliver meaningful regulatory relief so our staff can focus on the person in front of them rather than the paper or a computer. Let's address rigid scope of practice limits that do not consider the devastating workforce shortages we continue to face. And finally let's make a commitment to deliver more for our valued workers who are currently faced with impossible choices between doing the work they love and putting food on the table or having to work 3 jobs to make ends meet. We need to do better for ALL of our workforce - not just those employed directly by New York State. -- https://lnkd.in/emp_gQuY