Children and teen treatment service providers: Sound the alarm on Oregon's reimbursement rates

Oregon’s Behavior Rehabilitation Services — the backbone of the state’s youth behavioral health care system — is facing tremendous budget constraints with an increasing inability to staff programs due to unsustainable pay rates. Last year, the Oregon Health Authority and Oregon Department of Human Services commissioned the “Children’s Treatment Services Rate Study Report,” recommending significant increases to the BRS rates paid to community providers. Unfortunately, we are now in danger of running out the clock on approving these increases, putting the statewide fabric of children’s treatment services at risk of collapse.

Oregon has an abysmal track record for mental health care access, resulting in some of the highest rates of untreated mental illness and substance abuse disorders among youth in the nation. The denial of Behavior Rehabilitation Services rate increases will only exacerbate the crisis, forcing many programs to shut down and leaving children and families with few options to access desperately needed care. We urge the legislature to pass the recommended $27 million investment to keep them open.