On February 7, 2022, Betty Gentle, SOME’s Senior Advocacy & Community Engagement Specialist submitted written testimony to the Washington, DC Council Committee on Health, as part of the Department of Behavioral Health Fiscal Year 2021-2022 Performance Oversight Hearing.
Betty, as well as other members of the SOME Behavioral Health Services team, highlighted several ways that the Department of Behavioral Health can better support the provider network, thus enhancing Washington, DC’s public health system for persons receiving or seeking mental health and/or substance abuse treatment.
These include, but are not limited to:
- Immediately increasing the low reimbursement rates for providers so that providers can stably operate and provide whole-person care
- Helping combat the workforce shortage by thinking innovatively and collaboratively, such as by advocating for supervised practice of new graduates
- Working to lessen the administrative burdens on providers
To read the full testimony, click here.