Behavioral Health Advocates Rally for Increase in COLA Statewide Advocates Asking for 3.2% Increase in Cost-of-Living Adjustment and Investments in Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder Services and Supports
(Albany, N.Y.) – Twelve state advocacy groups across New York State hosted a rally in Albany to call on legislators and the Governor to include an 3.2 % increase in the Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) and $500 million in needed investments for mental health and substance use disorder services in the 2024-2025 State Fiscal Year’s budget.
The rally was held in Albany on Monday, October 30th at the NYS Capitol Building.
The group sent their concerns to the Governor and Legislature here.
While the previous year’s budget was a huge step in the right direction to assist behavioral groups across the state, it hasn’t begun to catch up with the decades of underfunding experienced by many of these groups.
Agencies that provide services to the most vulnerable adults, children and families with mental health and substance use disorder need, must remain competitive with larger corporations who can pay well over minimum wage. But it’s not just competitive pay that burdens providers; inflation has caused an increase in the cost of food, fuel, and other costs related to operations. These additional, unforeseen hurdles make it difficult to continue caring for our loved ones. A COLA and additional investments are a necessity to assist in leveling the playing field and securing a stronger workforce.
“In the 40 years that have passed since our current mental health housing models were created, everything has changed—except the models. We cannot provide adequate care and support to those we serve under the parameters set in the 1980s,” said Sebrina Barrett, Executive Director of the Association for Community Living. “Since then, housing providers serve residents with higher needs in an environment with increased external pressures and challenges, such as safety, security and an ongoing extreme workforce shortage. We ask New York State to partner with us by modernizing the models and ensuring we can care for all of our most vulnerable citizens, including the increasing number of whom are aging in place.”
“Across New York, our staff are working tirelessly to mitigate the impacts of the overdose epidemic and increased rates of suicide affecting New Yorkers in crisis proportions. However, there are significant waiting lists to access mental health and substance use disorder services through the public mental hygiene system. This is due to the lack of investment to recruit and retain staff”, said Lauri Cole, Executive Director, NYS Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare. “This situation is a public health emergency and as such, state leaders must address it with the same laser-like focus and robust investments as seen during the COVID-19 crisis. The Council believes New York should find the funds needed to support services and the workforce by carving behavioral health services out of Medicaid managed care and reinvest the savings to increase access to care and ensure we can recruit and retain the workforce we need to meet increased demand.”
“A flat budget is not the way to address record-setting rates of overdose and overdose deaths. The Opioid Settlement Fund Advisory Board and the Governor’s Task Force on Overdose Prevention have both documented the need for substantial investments in prevention, treatment, recovery, and harm reduction. We have a public health crisis that can only be adequately addressed with a significant investment of new funding,” said John Coppola, Co-CEO of the New York Association of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Providers/InUnity Alliance.
“Worsening rates of untreated mental health and substance use disorders are creating significant budgetary consequences related to increased numbers of unhoused persons, hospitalizations/emergency department visits, and incarceration. Resources to help people who are not currently receiving treatment and other services will help to eliminate these budget consequences. New York must use its funds wisely by investing in services that will enhance public health and drive down expenses caused when people can’t get treatment,” said Amy Dorin Co-CEO of The Coalition for Behavioral Health/InUnity Alliance.
“Network members are facing dramatic cost increases in all programs and are at a breaking point. Staffing, food, and insurance costs continue to soar, and the state must act to keep us whole, said Pascale Leone, Executive Director, Supportive Housing Network of New York. “A cost-of-living adjustment for this year is critical, but the state must also address losses to inflation that have occurred over the past twenty years. Our supportive housing tenants deserve full services and a safe home.”
“The behavioral health workforce sector is struggling to meet the increasing demands of mental health and addiction disorders. Over the last seventeen years of a promised COLA, only recently under Governor Hochul has there been recognition of the sector. Over the course of these years, by virtually ignoring the State mandated COLA, our community has lost over 33% of needed funding,” said Glenn Liebman, CEO, MHANYS. “With adequate funding, many more people in need could be served in housing and recovery programs and there would be significantly fewer deaths of despair from overdose and suicide completion. We are doing the work to save, protect and support people with complex needs. We need the mandated 3.2% COLA and an additional five hundred-million-dollar investment in our sector to support people in great need.”
“Our care management workforce continues to be on the front lines working with adults, children and families with behavioral health needs, often in crisis. Care management agencies are struggling with increased demand coupled with increased operational costs. A 3.2% COLA which includes health home care management and an additional five hundred million investment in behavioral health is critical to support these essential care management workers, supports and services,” said Jackie Negri, Executive Director, NYS Care Management Coalition.
“A society that financially undercuts providers that administer care and healing to those who are struggling with emotional wellness and/or addiction is a society that devalues both the employees who do the work and the individuals, youth and families who need the help. Better, healthier communities start with better resources and this workforce is the lifeline for those resources. Families and young people need a workforce, not waitlists. That’s why we support a 3.2% COLA and $500M rate increase for community behavioral health providers” said Paige Pierce, CEO, Families Together in New York State.
“Recovery is hard work and involves an essential faith in the process and the development of a trusted relationship with a worker who is there to support you throughout that process,” said Harvey Rosenthal, CEO of the Alliance for Rights and Recovery (formerly NYAPRS). “When that trust is regularly compromised by constant turnover due to wholly inadequate wages, people are forced to go through the difficult step of starting all over again with the next worker…and then the next.”
Allegra Schorr, President of the Coalition of Medication-Assisted Treatment Providers and Advocates (COMPA) said, “New York continues to struggle with the increase in deadly overdoses across the state and it is vital that the State support policies and provide funding that increase access to medications for OUD and remove barriers which impede that access. Opioid Treatment Programs (OTPs) and MAT providers are unable to treat patients up to their normal capacity due to a persistent staffing shortage. Program staff is underpaid and overworked, and burnout is high. The workforce shortage must be addressed in a meaningful way so that access to MAT can be maintained and expanded. Previous administrations have denied providers $500 million in COLA funding since the enactment of the statute because the state has deferred it multiple times. New York should make the COLA permanent and provide a 3.2% COLA this year to help sustain the workforce and invest $500 million to help offset the lost COLA funding. These needed funds would provide loan forgiveness, internship stipends and stipends for CASAC trainees, and fellowships in addiction medicine which would help build and maintain the workforce, particularly in underserved areas.”
“Children and families continue to face often insurmountable obstacles to accessing the behavioral health services they need,” said Kayleigh Zaloga, President & CEO of the NYS Coalition for Children’s Behavioral Health. “Wait times for both community-based and residential services routinely drag on for months, leaving families in crisis and children suffering when they should be finding relief. Ensuring that behavioral health service reimbursement is adequate to hire and maintain a devoted workforce is an absolutely necessary step toward alleviating this burden.”
The twelve agencies represented at the rally are: Association for Community Living, Coalition of Medication-Assisted Treatment Providers and Advocates of New York State (COMPA), Families Togeth
er in New York State, Mental Health Association in New York State, National Alliance on Mental Illness New York State (NAMI), New York Association of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Providers/InUnity Alliance, New York State Care Management Coalition, New York State Coalition for Children’s Behavioral Health, NYS Council for Community Behavioral Health Care, Alliance for Rights and Recovery (formerly NYAPRS), Supportive Housing Network of New York, and The Coalition for Behavioral Health/InUnity Alliance.
