HB 6951, An Act Concerning Children’s Behavioral Health Services

TESTIMONY OF THE CONNECTICUT HOSPITAL ASSOCIATION
SUBMITTED TO THE COMMITTEE ON CHILDREN

Thursday, February 20, 2025

The Connecticut Hospital Association (CHA) appreciates this opportunity to submit testimony concerning HB 6951, An Act Concerning Children’s Behavioral Health Services. CHA supports this bill.

Connecticut hospitals and health systems care for patients, strengthen the state’s economy, and support vulnerable communities across the state. Every day, they work to improve healthcare access, affordability, and health equity. Even as they face ongoing challenges, hospitals provide world-class care to everyone who walks through their doors, regardless of their ability to pay. Hospitals also support an exemplary workforce as the largest collective employer in the state, contribute significantly to the state’s economy, and invest in their communities addressing social drivers of health.

CHA urges the state to take immediate action to augment the availability of behavioral health services, both in the hospital and in the community. The COVID-19 pandemic exposed and aggravated deficiencies in Connecticut’s behavioral health system. Rising numbers of people of all ages are experiencing mental health and substance use issues due to isolation, fear, and delays in care, compounded by chronic staffing shortages. These have stressed the healthcare system even further. The crisis is evident in hospital emergency departments (EDs), which are often the only option for people who cannot access care in more appropriate settings.

HB 6951 would fund mobile crisis intervention services over the course of the next biennium. This funding represents the continuation of the state’s commitment to enabling the delivery of emergency mobile psychiatric services for children and adolescents. CHA supports ongoing funding for these services. But more can be done.

Apart from the study called for in the bill, the state can take important steps now to enhance access to timely acute and preventive care, such as establishing Medicaid rate structures for initiatives like children’s behavioral health urgent care centers, making emergency mobile psychiatric services available statewide during high-demand times, expanding community-based and school-based services to all areas of the state, and instituting Medicaid reimbursement for care coordination initiatives, including but not limited to collaborative care model (COCM) services and community care teams (CCTs).

Thank you for your consideration of our position. For additional information, contact CHA Government Relations at (203) 294-7301.