About 37% of Americans live in areas where there is a shortage of mental health providers. By 2025, the U.S. will be short about 31,000 full-time equivalent mental health practitioners, said Miriam Delphin-Rittmon, assistant secretary for mental health and substance use at HHS and the administrator of Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).
“For us, that’s really a call to action,” Delphin-Rittmon said. “It lets us know that we’ve got work to do to be able to strengthen and expand the workforce.”
Delphin-Rittmon made these comments during an on-stage interview at the AHIP Medicare, Medicaid, Duals & Commercial Markets Forum on Wednesday in Washington, D.C.
One of the ways SAMHSA is combatting the workforce shortage is through the Minority Fellowship Program, aimed at those in psychology, psychiatry, marriage and family therapy, addiction, nursing and other professions. The program trains behavioral health practitioners on treating patients from different backgrounds and works to reduce health disparities. Delphin-Rittmon said that President Joe Biden is looking to increase the Minority Fellowship Program’s budget by $14 million to about $36 million.
SAMHSA is also providing resources to the existing mental health workforce through technical assistance centers and centers of excellence, she added.
Read more at MedCityNews.com.
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