State of Reform discussed Fourfront Contributor’s goals with three of its members—Jodi Daly (CEO of Comprehensive Healthcare), Katrina Egner (CEO of Sound), and Tom Sebastian (CEO of Compass Health) in this Q&A.
State of Reform: What are Fourfront Contributor’s advocacy priorities for the 2024 legislative session?
Tom Sebastian: “Since our inception, Fourfront Contributor has taken a two-pronged approach to advocacy—encouraging annual investments in community behavioral health to deliver immediate relief to providers facing unprecedented demand for services, while generating momentum toward a long-term solution that will establish the modern and sustainable community behavioral health system our communities need and deserve.
For the last few years, annual investments such as Medicaid and non-Medicaid rate increases have been crucial in addressing the challenges that we, as providers, are facing. Service requests are up 30 to 40 percent, our industry is still facing a workforce shortage, and on top of all that, we’re contending with inflationary pressures that are driving up our operational costs. Suffice to say, we need any support that state leaders are willing to lend, so this legislative session, we’re asking for a 5 percent increase in Medicaid and non-Medicaid rates to alleviate some of the pressure.
However, to provide the relief that our community behavioral health system truly needs, we’re urging state leaders to continue progress toward the long-term solution we’ve long supported—statewide adoption of the CCBHC model.”
Read the Q+A on the State of Reform website here.
We encourage all readers to learn more about CCBHCs and the impact they have on communities on our CCBHC webpage here.