Innovative Medicaid Strategies to Enhance the Behavioral Health Care Workforce
Although Medicaid includes robust behavioral health care benefits and pays for a greater portion of behavioral health care services than any other insurer in the U.S., workforce shortages are a key barrier to access, especially in rural, low-income, and other underserved communities.
The workforce shortage is driven by a complex set of challenges, including low reimbursement rates and provider wages, high burnout and attrition, and costly, non-transferable professional licensing requirements. State Medicaid agencies can play an important role in addressing these issues, strengthening the behavioral health care workforce, and helping their members access care.
In this virtual panel hosted by the Center for Health Care Strategies (CHCS), behavioral health care experts from California, Oregon, and Massachusetts explored state Medicaid policy levers to strengthen the behavioral health care workforce by investing in the workforce pipeline.