Dear Elected Leaders,

Every day Pennsylvania hospitals and emergency departments struggle to find timely and clinically- appropriate care for Pennsylvanians who need psychiatric treatment. It is heartbreaking and frustrating. On behalf of more than 235 organizations statewide, The Hospital and Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania (HAP) respectfully seeks your vocal support to allocate funding to behavioral health as you consider the 2022–2023 state budget. Specifically,

1. Bolster community and home-based behavioral health services by increasing state funding for county mental health programs by at least $28 million.
2. Ensure hospitals have resources to care for patients with complex needs by requiring that Medicaid payment rates properly reflect the cost of complex cases, longer stays, and resource-intensive treatments and that behavioral health Medicaid managed care organizations provide psychiatric support in emergency departments.
3. Facilitate placement in post-acute care settings by including an additional roughly $13 million to county mental health funding to assist emergency departments and passing House Bill 1644 to establish complex care transition teams to help when inpatient, psychiatric residential treatment, or other settings are unable to discharge patients.

Pennsylvanians need behavioral health care. Recent HAP research reveals that 1 in 6 children between the ages of 6 and 17 years old experience a mental health disorder; 1 in 5 adults has a mental health condition; more than 4 percent of adults live with a serious mental health concern, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or major depression; and that fewer than 47 percent of adults living with mental illness receive treatment.

We know that you, too, hear heartbreaking stories from your constituents as they try to find appropriate care for their loved ones. Mental health concerns have a profound effect on Pennsylvanians. About 70 percent of children in the juvenile justice system have a mental health condition. A quarter of Pennsylvanians without housing struggle with serious mental illness. And, tragically, more than 2,000 Pennsylvanians died by suicide in 2020. The price is too high for inaction.