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PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Abby Jeffrey, Assistant Vice President of Behavioral Health and Wellness, City Programs at JCCA
6:21:20
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122 sec
Abby Jeffrey from JCCA testified about the challenges faced by mental health providers in New York City, including workforce shortages, funding issues, and potential impacts of federal Medicaid cuts. She proposed three main actions for the city to address these challenges.
- Advocate with federal partners to maintain Medicaid funding
- Work with state partners to increase reimbursement rates for mental health services
- Support a diverse workforce through educational and training supports, including tuition assistance and loan forgiveness
Abby Jeffrey
6:21:20
Good afternoon, chair and members of the health and mental health disabilities and addiction committees.
6:21:25
Thank you for calling this hearing.
6:21:27
My name is Abby Jeffrey, assistant vice president of behavioral health and wellness city programs for JCCA.
6:21:32
JCCA provides a continuum of behavioral mental health programs in New York City.
6:21:37
Our dedicated mental health staff provide therapeutic and social supports to youth and families in crisis.
6:21:43
Unfortunately, we face the same workforce challenges as other human service providers.
6:21:48
Lowering reimbursement rates have caused significant staffing challenges.
6:21:51
We routinely have waitlists for our programs, we are unable to serve many of these children due to staff shortages.
6:21:56
We experienced high staff turnover resulting in youth losing continuity of care.
6:22:01
The federal government's recent budget proposals contain drastic cuts to Medicaid.
6:22:05
All of our behavioral and mental health programs rely on Medicaid funding.
6:22:08
The proposed Medicaid cuts will result in millions of New Yorkers losing health and mental health coverage.
6:22:13
Our clients will not be able to access the mental health services that we provide.
6:22:17
We will need greater investment to address the fiscal challenges that we face as mental health providers.
6:22:22
What can New York City do?
6:22:23
One, advocate with federal partners to maintain Medicaid funding.
6:22:26
We strongly request that the city's legislators work with federal partners to prioritize protecting Medicaid funding in the federal budget.
6:22:33
Our families come from marginalized neighborhoods and reliant Medicaid funded services to keep children healthy and safe.
6:22:39
Two, encourage state partners to increase reimbursement rates.
6:22:42
We ask that the city work with state partners to increase both contractual reimbursement rates and Medicaid encountered based reimbursement rates to adequately fund services intended for high acuity children.
6:22:52
Three, support diverse workforce with educational and training supports.
6:22:56
We aim to hire staff who come from the same communities as our clients who speak the languages our clients speak.
6:23:01
However, tuition rates, substantial loans, unpaid or underpaid internship programs, and licensing fees are significant barriers for aspiring clinicians.
6:23:09
We ask that the city provide tuition assistance and loan forgiveness, assistance to nonprofit mental health providers to pay for the continuing education for staff, and subsidized test prep for licensure exams.
6:23:20
Thank you for taking the time to consider investing in the needs