State of Reform discussed Fourfront Contributor’s advocacy efforts with three of its members—Jodi Daly (CEO of Comprehensive Healthcare), Jeff Thomas (CEO of Frontier Behavioral Health), and Tom Sebastian (CEO of Compass Health) in this Q&A.
State of Reform: As an organization that is driven toward improving behavioral health outcomes for Washingtonians, what does Fourfront Contributor believe is currently the most important issue that needs to be addressed, and why?
Jodi Daly: “Put simply, the single biggest issue we face in community behavioral health is a crisis-level workforce shortage. It’s unlike anything we’ve seen in our collective decades in this industry.
This situation is years in the making. As many know, the mental health needs of our communities have become increasingly urgent over the past three years. While we’re still coming to terms with the impacts of the pandemic on the mental health of our residents, the truth is, systemic funding issues have chronically hampered our ability as providers to keep page with growing needs – long before COVID.
These funding issues have compounded to create unprecedented workforce shortages, forcing us and other providers statewide to limit services due to a lack of staff able to provide care. Without adopting a sustainable funding system that will allow us to stabilize the current workforce landscape, we’re unable to adequately ensure access to our core services, let alone consider expanding programs and offerings to keep pace with demand.”
How is Fourfront Contributor working to address this issue?
Jeff Thomas: “As the members of Fourfront Contributor – four of the largest community behavioral health providers in Washington – we’re advocating for both short- and long-term solutions to address issues that are putting unsustainable pressures on the behavioral health system.
The key long-term solution that we’re supporting is the statewide adoption of the Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic (CCBHC) model, a nationally proven, evidence-based approach that will help ensure the sustainability of high-quality community behavioral health. We believe this model is an ideal solution for Washington state as it will address the most critical issues facing behavioral health – inadequate funding and record workforce shortages – by enabling providers to receive fair compensation for services, allowing each to offer competitive compensation to recruit and retain staff to ensure that program and facilities remain open and ready to serve community members.
We’re excited that state leaders approved funding for a study of CCBHC model adoption in Washington during the last legislative session. Now, we’re focused on supporting the state’s application for a federal planning grant, which is the next step toward becoming a demonstration site for the CCBHC model.
Some of our top-priority shorter-term solutions to addressing the significant workforce shortages plaguing the behavioral health system include raising Medicaid rates, expanding investments in student loan repayment programs, utilizing staff in new and different roles, supporting licensure reciprocity with neighboring states, and more. We encourage those who are interested in staying up to date with our work on advocating for these solutions and others to subscribe to our newsletter here.
According to the University of Washington, a quarter of Washington residents don’t have access to mental health services. How can our state improve access to care?
Daly: “All the strategies that we support as Fourfront Contributor are driven toward improving access to care – from the longer-term solutions such as CCBHC model adoption to more short-term workforce supports.
We know these efforts will make a difference. In the field, we’re demonstrating that more competitive pay works to attract the professionals we need to keep pace with the demand for mental health services. For example, at Comprehensive Healthcare, we recently took the step of using one-time funding to offer incentives like higher pay and student loan forgiveness. A recent increase in salaries led to a 24% increase in resume submissions for behavioral health associates and case managers. As a system, we need better supports so we can make that type of compensation more systemic and sustainable.
Alongside supporting these solutions, our Fourfront Contributor member organizations are also on the forefront of innovative approaches to meet the growing needs of our communities. Some of those approaches include engaging in mobile crisis team outreach, strengthening partnerships with local law enforcement, schools, and other community agencies, and utilizing peer counselors to support treatment and recovery.
Moving forward, what types of partnerships can Fourfront Contributor make or initiatives it can undertake to help it grow and continue to help Washingtonians with behavioral health challenges?
Tom Sebastian: “In founding Fourfront Contributor, our mission was to impact policy decisions that affect behavioral health organizations across the state. To accomplish this, we’ve been fortunate to collaborate with many partners, including the Washington Council for Behavioral Health, peer agencies across the state, philanthropic organizations, and other industry leaders. From exploring potential solutions with our philanthropic partners to executing population-level research of behavioral health care and operational models with our payor organizations, these partnerships enable us to truly drive meaningful change within the behavioral health system.
Fourfront Contributor is committed to serving as a trusted, expert resource for our partners and others interested in learning more about the challenges we’re facing as community behavioral health providers and the solutions that could help address these challenges. To partner with us, learn more about our work, and stay up to date on the causes we support, click here.