CHARLESTON — Lawmakers heard testimony Monday from members of the behavioral health community who want to increase the recruitment and retention of providers in the state.
During a presentation to the Joint Committee on Education at the West Virginia Capitol, Cynthia Persily, vice chancellor for health sciences at the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission, discussed the shortage of behavioral health professionals throughout the state.
Persily’s testimony comes as Higher Education Policy Commission found success in its Behavioral Health Initiative, which was created to address workforce shortages in the field. It was created with a goal of studying the workforce supply and demand, incentivizing the advancement of careers, recruitment, increasing support for attainment of specialized credentials and connecting people in the field from across the state.
Persily said a recent survey showed that 90% of Americans believe there is an ongoing mental health crisis and 68% believed the opioid epidemic was a crisis. Another national employer health benefits survey showed 8% of large firms that offer health benefits have seen an increase in employees’ use of mental health services. Another 29% saw an increase of employees taking leave for mental health reasons.
Fewer than half of employers felt they had an adequate network for behavioral health providers, she said. The crisis goes beyond business and into schools and hospitals, as well.
Persily said after doing data collection about the workforce, they found there are about 3,500 licensed behavioral health providers in the state ranging from psychiatrists, counselors, social workers, physician assistants, nurse practitioners and beyond. The state needs about 1,400 more providers to have an adequate infrastructure, Persily said.
“West Virginia’s ratio of providers is 1 to 500. The national ratio, which is admittedly less than adequate, is 1 in 370,” she said. “In West Virginia, 111 federally designated Mental Health Professional Shortage Areas exist covering every part of our state.”
Persily said the Higher Education Policy Commission, academic institutions and others worked together to create the Behavioral Health Initiative, which was launched as a pilot program and has found success.
The program provided education opportunities for high schoolers, allowing them to get college credit for the path in high school. The initiative also gave 45 master-level students in counseling, social work and psychology incentives for clinical placements in the underserved areas of the state, among other things.
“In summary, the Behavioral Health Initiative is a concentrated effort,” she said, “with a reliable source of funding of human health initiatives toward a stronger behavioral health workforce to meet the needs of our citizens in the future.”
A resolution proposed during Monday’s meeting would require a legislative study of the supply and demand by analyzing the geographic and demographic availability of the behavioral health workforce. Using that data, the study would result in a development of a strategic plan to build a better behavioral health infrastructure and workforce.
Counsel for the education committee said the resolution would incentivize and promote careers by providing funds for two additional doctoral residencies in West Virginia-based programs and a number of other internships and educational pathways in other careers within the field. The residents and interns would be required to work in underserved areas of the state for at least one year of every year of support received.
Delegate Wayne Clark, R-Jefferson, worried it could take years to see results.
“I love this, but we are talking four or five years down the road. What are we going to do now? What can we do now?” he said.
Another delegate was concerned that restricting the program to “underserved” and “rural areas” would limit where a person could practice. However, Persily said with 111 federally designated shortage areas throughout the state, there are plenty of locations to serve.
Persily said there is an ongoing loan repayment program for people working in the mental health field in underserved areas of the state. The program had 24 people in its initial year, with 22 providers returning the next year. The program has found success in getting providers into rural areas, but more funding could allow it to expand, she said.
