For Tom Sebastian, president and CEO of Compass Health, the number one issue facing Washington healthcare is the behavioral health workforce shortage. He noted that three-quarters of Washington’s providers are placing some form of limitations on care due to these shortages. During a recent “What They’re Watching” interview, he discussed what his organization is doing to address this.
“We are advocating for a 15% increase in the Medicaid and non-Medicaid rates so that we can pass those along to support our staff. This will help us recruit staff to our agencies to provide these critically needed services, and also help us retain staff who are really working hard under very difficult circumstances, trying to give community members the services they need when they really don’t have the capacity and the resources that are necessary to do the job.”
Compass Health is a member of Fourfront Contributor, a consortium of state behavioral health providers whose mission is to reform Washington’s behavioral health system to better-serve patients. Comprehensive Healthcare, Frontier Behavioral Health, and Sound are also members.