New HPC research hub will identify challenges and policy opportunities to strengthen and diversify behavioral health workforce
BOSTON — The Massachusetts Health Policy Commission (HPC) has launched a new Behavioral Health Workforce Center, established in partnership with the Executive Office of Health and Human Services (EOHHS), to strengthen the Commonwealth’s capacity to identify and respond to ongoing behavioral health workforce needs.
As the Commonwealth’s primary hub for research on the behavioral health workforce, the Center will conduct research and make data-informed policy recommendations to strengthen the behavioral health workforce in Massachusetts by improving education and training pipelines, increasing diversity and cultural competency, enhancing opportunities for professional growth, and reducing provider turnover in Massachusetts.
The behavioral health care system both in Massachusetts and nationally has a shortage of workers, and in turn, a limited ability to meet the complex behavioral health care needs of all residents, inclusive of mental health and substance use disorder treatment. The HPC has noted in prior workforce research that although Massachusetts has a high rate of behavioral health providers per capita relative to other states, there is high turnover and burnout among providers at all levels, contributing to insufficient services available relative to patient need.
Workforce challenges can further exacerbate inequitable behavioral health care access for residents. According to the 2023 Massachusetts Health Insurance Survey, one in 10 Massachusetts residents reported an unmet need for behavioral health care, and Hispanic residents were almost twice as likely to have an unmet behavioral health need due to cost than non-Hispanic White residents (8.5% vs 4.7%).
To address the behavioral health workforce crisis, the HPC Behavioral Health Workforce Center was established to (1) identify gaps and challenges across communities and provider types, (2) monitor trends, particularly related to disparities in workforce representation and demand for behavioral health services, (3) convene stakeholders through the creation of an advisory group that will provide behavioral health workforce expertise and diverse perspectives and (4) support development of responsive, high-impact policy recommendations.
The establishment of the HPC Behavioral Health Workforce Center is a milestone in the statewide plan to address behavioral health workforce challenges, recruit and retain talented behavioral health professionals, and ensure access to quality behavioral health services for all Massachusetts residents. Initial funding for the center comes from the EOHHS Behavioral Health Trust Fund.
"The launch of the HPC Behavioral Health Workforce Center is another tool we can use to combat the behavioral health workforce shortage in Massachusetts," said Kate Walsh, Secretary of Health and Human Services and HPC Commissioner. "Investments like these are crucial for the health and well-being of residents across our state. This research will strengthen and improve access to behavioral health care in all our communities.”
“For every 10 clinicians entering work in mental health clinics, 13 clinicians leave – this finding from the Association of Behavioral Healthcare’s 2022 member survey paints a clear picture of a behavioral health care workforce that is suffering,” said Marty Cohen, HPC Commissioner and former President and CEO of the Metrowest Health Foundation. “The new HPC Behavioral Health Workforce Center, the first of its kind in Massachusetts, will address workforce challenges and identify actionable policy solutions, all in support of our shared goal to increase access to effective mental health services for all residents of the Commonwealth.”
This work will be led by Amy Doyle, MSW, MPH, the first Director of the HPC Behavioral Health Workforce Center.
“I am incredibly excited to be joining the HPC in launching the HPC Behavioral Health Workforce Center, which will play an instrumental role in addressing the staggering workforce challenges facing the Commonwealth’s behavioral health care system,” said Amy Doyle, Director of the HPC Behavioral Health Workforce Center. “Massachusetts individuals and families face many barriers to receiving care that is timely, high quality, culturally competent, and delivered in a setting that is best suited to their unique needs. A critical strategy for moving the needle forward on achieving more equitable access to behavioral health care for all is to strengthen and diversify our behavioral health workforce by bolstering supports, investing in additional recruitment and retention initiatives, and implementing policy to sustain these efforts.”
HPC Behavioral Health Workforce Center Research Agenda
The HPC Behavioral Health Workforce Center will collaborate with state partners and stakeholders to capture data that informs policy development to meet the Commonwealth’s behavioral health workforce needs. Areas of research will include:
- A comprehensive study and analysis of rates paid for behavioral health services by both private and public payers and the adequacy of those rates.
- A study of licensure and certification processes for the behavioral health workforce.
- A study to establish baseline behavioral health workforce needs throughout the Commonwealth and develop recommendations and strategies to meet those needs.
The Center has been established as part of Chapter 77 of the Acts of 2022, which established a Behavioral Health Trust Fund “for the purpose of addressing barriers to the delivery of an equitable, culturally competent, affordable and clinically-appropriate continuum of behavioral health care and services,” which supports a number of behavioral health workforce investments in addition to the HPC Behavioral Health Workforce Center.
Commissioners will discuss the work of the new HPC Behavioral Health Workforce Center at the virtual HPC Board Meeting this afternoon, Thursday September 19, 2024. Commissioners will also review key findings from the HPC’s upcoming 2024 Health Care Cost Trends Report, discuss the agency’s annual policy recommendations, and provide an update on the HPC’s regulatory review of Steward Health Care’s market transactions and sales.
Find more information about the HPC Behavioral Health Workforce Center, HPC health care workforce research, and details for this afternoon’s Board Meeting on the HPC’s website.
