DHP regulates over 500,000 healthcare practitioners across 62 professions through its 13 health regulatory boards. With proactive strategies and embracing technology, medical practice leaders can develop a sustainable framework for the future of mental health care in the United States. This broader recruitment base helps to meet the growing need for behavioral health professionals. Artificial intelligence (AI) and automation can help healthcare facilities manage staffing and improve patient interactions. With rising challenges in the mental health workforce, technology is becoming increasingly important in addressing these issues. Many direct care workers feel undervalued, despite their crucial role in supporting vulnerable populations.

We conclude with suggestions for federal and state policies to deliver financial and structural investments to workforce planning and support to provide economically secure opportunities for all behavioral health providers and to attract new providers to the system. In fact, NSPs are among the fastest-growing group of workers in the behavioral health workforce.10 With nearly two decades of specialty pharmaceutical and medical device experience, Ms. Taylor has a wide range of knowledge on public policy issues, including Medicare, Medicaid and commercial management of managed care organizations, hospitals, pharmacies and mental health centers. For four decades at Yale, he has been developing and managing comprehensive systems of behavioral health care and a broad range of clinical, rehabilitative, educational, vocational, outreach, and recovery-oriented services for children, adolescents and adults. This session hosted long-term behavioral health workforce experts in a discussion on current workforce challenges, emerging solutions, and lessons learned in how to maintain a focus and attention to workforce initiates throughout policy shifts. The behavioral health landscape continues to experience ongoing and multi-pronged complexity, with systemic challenges intersecting workforce needs, technological innovation, and evolving policy developments.

Payment Delivery and Reimbursement Enhancements

• This includes scholarships and paid internships like the Ohio Great Minds Fellowship, providing up to $10,000 for students entering the behavioral health sector.
• This publication is supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S.
• Ohio has introduced two new types of certified peer specialists—certified youth peer supporters and certified family peer supporters—to assist in navigating treatment and recovery support services for youth and families.
• For example, a university may partner with a local hospital to provide clinical training opportunities for students, while the hospital benefits from the latest research and a pipeline of skilled graduates.

States such as Arizona, New Jersey, and Washington have made direct investments in grant and scholarship awards for individuals pursuing behavioral health degrees to attract and retain a range of behavioral health professionals. In addition, the state is re-releasing over $21 million in remaining funds from previous MA Repay initiatives, which target child/adolescent psychiatrists, primary care professionals, and substance use treatment providers. Use the NASHP state strategy resource to explore the approaches of three states that are leveraging managed care payment models that incentivize improvements in behavioral health performance. The initiative is designed to enhance workforce sustainability, expand access to care, and improve service quality across the state, particularly in rural areas where shortages are more pronounced. Washington’s approach emphasizes that the increased payments are directed at community-based providers, excluding hospital inpatient services, and requires MCOs to pass these increases directly to the providers. Starting in January 2024, Washington requires managed care organizations (MCOs) to increase rates by 15 percent for these services, including specialized programs like WISe (Wraparound with Intensive Services), New Journeys, and opioid treatment programs.

How States Are Modernizing Facility Licensure to Advance Integrated Care

Washington allocated funding for its 2023–2025 budget to increase behavioral health provider rates for both non-hospital inpatient and outpatient services. As of 2023, outpatient behavioral health providers who derive over 50 percent of their revenue from Medicaid are eligible for a 30 percent increase in reimbursement compared to 2022 CCO reimbursement. By aligning reimbursement rates with study recommendations, Montana exemplifies a data-drive approach to ensure enhanced access to quality care for beneficiaries while addressing workforce sustainability. The initiative aimed to increase provider reimbursement for behavioral health services and improve service delivery for Medicaid beneficiaries. Alongside rate updates, as part of its Comprehensive How Right Now: Mental Health Resources Behavioral Health Plan for Maine, MaineCare transitioned assertive community treatment for adults and home and community treatment services to alternative payment models through performance-based provisions, enhancing care delivery and billing flexibility. As detailed in KFF’s 2023–2024 Medicaid budget survey, around 32 states in FY 2023 raised rates for behavioral health services, followed by 34 states in FY 2024, with 26 states planning further increases in FY 2025.

Providing Tuition Reimbursement and Student Loan Repayment

Many state BHWCs, such as those in Georgia, Florida, Illinois, and Massachusetts, Nevada, and Washington, are funded through state general funds to support behavioral health workforce development. The Behavioral Health Workforce Center Alliance (BHWCA) is a national network of behavioral health workforce development centers from across the United States. Though they offer a high return on investment in behavioral health services, peer support workers are often stuck in low-wage roles with limited opportunity for career progression. Against this backdrop, the Massachusetts Healthcare Collaborative sought to identify and address challenges in the state’s healthcare workforce pipeline, starting with peer support workers.