Several experts told the Senate Finance Committee that raising reimbursement rates for providers is a pivotal way to increase access to youth mental health as it will drive more of them into the specialty.
The committee held its second hearing on youth mental health Tuesday, with a specific focus on improving access to such services. The hearing comes as the panel is crafting a major legislative package on the subject.
“Mental health care simply isn’t starting early enough, and it’s not reaching young people where they are, particularly kids in rural areas,” said Committee Chairman Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon.
Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pennsylvania, said that although Medicaid is the largest insurer for children it pays significantly lower for mental health compared to commercial rates. This can lead to inequitable access to care and “terrible consequences for the pediatric workforce.”
Tami Benton, M.D., psychiatrist-in-chief for Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, said the lower pay for providers could be discouraging some psychiatrists from entering the field. Increasing the rates like Medicare levels.
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Other providers said the low reimbursement rate is exacerbating existing shortages among mental health staff.
“It is the ability for centers to be able to reimburse their staff at a rate they can survive on,” said Jodie Lubarsky, vice president of clinical operations for Seacoast Mental Health Center in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. “Facilities themselves can’t reimburse to sustain the staff long term. We hear that all the time in our exit interviews.”
Another burden is the dearth of providers that accept Medicaid reimbursement, creating a larger burden on staff.
Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Michigan, pointed toward funding more community behavioral health clinics as a way to transform mental health care.
The hearing is part of a series the panel is conducting as part of its effort to craft legislation that tackles barriers to mental health access. Wyden has said improving parity between the rates reimbursed for behavioral and mental health care is a priority.
Other facets of the package will focus on expanding the use of telehealth to improve access to mental health services and to expand the workforce to alleviate lingering shortages.
Wyden has said he expects the legislation to be finalized by this summer.