Mental Health Update
Op Ed in the Times Union on Regulatory Reforms to Improve Efficiency for the Human Service Sector
For years, provider agencies have been reaching out to state agencies to urge support for regulatory reform. The kind of reforms that end duplicative services and modernize regulations. These proposals continue to provide guardrails, but at the same time, allows for innovation that support families and their loved ones in crisis.
Our colleagues at Northern River have put together such a document that provides the kind of common sense regulatory relief that providers need.
This op ed is a clarion call for State agencies to align with providers and implement the recommendations of the report. Great job by MHANYS Board Chair and Northern Rivers CEO, Bill Gettman and his team for producing this document.
Commentary: Here’s how to make N.Y.’s human services funding go farther
Recommendations for how the state can streamline operations, improve efficiency and cut costs for social welfare work
Dec 18, 2025
At a time when New York is facing fiscal headwinds and difficult choices, it’s easy to believe that cutting funding is the only way forward. But what if the answer isn’t necessarily about spending more, but about spending smarter?
Across our state’s human services system, inefficiency is costing taxpayers millions while delaying care for children, families and vulnerable residents. Providers must navigate layers of redundant regulations, overlapping agency requirements and outdated systems. These unnecessary barriers increase administrative costs, frustrate families and strain already-overburdened staff.
The good news: There’s a clear path to relieve pressure on the system and deliver better outcomes while also saving the state money.
Northern Rivers’ “Less Red Tape. Better Results” policy recommendations urge lawmakers to make nine changes that would streamline operations, improve access and reduce long-term costs. They include establishing a portable clearance passport to replace duplicative background checks; recognizing a standardized assessment so families don’t have to repeat their stories to multiple agencies; easing workforce shortages by expanding the scope of practice for bachelor-level professionals; and modernizing audit and telehealth regulations to increase efficiency and access.
These proposals do not compromise safety or oversight. In fact, they improve accountability through consistency and data integration. By removing unnecessary steps, we free up both public resources and staff capacity to focus on what matters most: helping people.
This is the right conversation to have in this budget climate. Lawmakers are right to demand sound stewardship of tax dollars. Reforming the system to be more efficient is not only possible, it is fiscally responsible.
Alongside these cost-saving strategies, we are asking for a 2.7% targeted inflationary increase for the nonprofit human services workforce. One in nine New Yorkers works in this sector, most of them women and people of color, providing services that stabilize lives and reduce future public costs. Yet turnover remains at crisis levels, reaching 42% to 57% in child welfare, and nonprofit wages trail far behind public-sector salaries. A bachelor’s-level caseworker in a nonprofit earns roughly $46,000, compared with $61,000 in a state role.
We are not asking for an expansion of services. We are asking for the means to maintain the workforce we already have. The 2.7% request aligns directly with the 2025 Consumer Price Index, nothing more, and helps prevent further erosion of purchasing power. It is a modest investment that keeps experienced staff in the field, sustains quality care and prevents costly turnover.
Together, these two elements — policy reform that reduces waste and a reasonable adjustment that stabilizes the workforce — offer a blueprint for strengthening New York’s human services infrastructure.
Families should not have to repeat their trauma during yet another intake. Workers should not need food assistance while caring for those in crisis. And taxpayers should not shoulder costs driven by inefficiency. Streamlining processes and modestly supporting the workforce are not competing ideas. They work together to deliver better results for children, families and the state.
William Gettman is the CEO of the Northern Rivers Family of Services in Albany.
