Medicaid funding is a concern for healthcare providers of all types, and FasPsych understands this better than most. Medicaid is the largest payor of mental health services and covers 25% of mental health payments. If you’re not familiar with changes in Medicaid funding, it’s important to stay informed.
What Legislative Changes Mean for Medicaid Funding
Many changes have come from executive and legislative action – for instance, $11 billion was recently cut from funding of mental health and addiction with little notice. The closure of SAMHSA within the Department of Health and Human Services means we’ll likely see more of these types of sudden changes. The changes are still ongoing when it comes to the long-term reform that may come as a result of current Congressional budget negotiations.
This is why now is the ideal time to transition to FasPsych as your psychiatric service provider. Flexibility is key to ensuring your staffing model can adapt as funding fluctuates. Without a dynamic partner that understands policy developments, you may be left with contracts and employees that can’t adjust to reimbursement changes, possibly leaving you unable to continue providing high-quality psychiatric services.
What This Means for Organizations Offering Mental Health Services
In a time of constant change, it’s important for organizations that provide psychiatric services to remain able to pivot as quickly as policy evolves.. The age of being able to hire a psychiatrist and keep them on staff for an extended number of years is not realistic in today’s environment.
The key to being able to staff your psychiatric facility appropriately is to minimize downtime and changes, not by running a full-time HR and recruiting department, but by optimizing resource expenditure so your team can focus on patient care.
How Telepsychiatry Supports Healthcare Providers
Turnover has always been an issue with physicians, but now, it’s a cost that many medical groups cannot afford. Demand for physicians has become so high that 56% of residents report being contacted by over 100 recruiters. The hiring market is more competitive than ever, while reimbursement rates are flat or declining. FasPsych frees your team to focus on clinical care instead of recruitment.
The average sign-on bonus for physicians is $31,473 and $8,335 for nurse practitioners. Psychiatry is the 6th most recruited specialty as of 2023. If a provider leaves or is terminated, it can take 5-10 months to replace a specialty provider. This doesn’t include any costs associated with a possible termination of an employee, such as severance or tail costs.
Telemedicine staffing solves this problem. FasPsych can recruit telemedicine psychiatric providers for you to interview at no cost to you. Hours can be scaled up and down depending on changes in need. Organizations cannot afford to be without psychiatric services or to spend a significant outlay to hire a new psychiatrist when funding is unpredictable.
Why FasPsych Remains a Scalable Solution Despite Medicaid Funding Uncertainty
FasPsych is the psychiatric telemedicine provider for your clinic or organization that meets your needs as they change. It removes up-front onboarding costs and provides flexibility while providing high-quality services that ensure continuity of care with on-site staff.
With a proven track record serving Medicaid-funded facilities, FasPsych’s adaptable telepsychiatry services model is built to withstand funding fluctuations, ensuring your organization can continue delivering reliable mental health care without disruption. We provide video visits for clinics, jails, and FQHCs, CMHCs, and other federal or state-funded health facilities, and we understand how to work with needs that are changing now more than ever before, creating an unpredictable future environment.
Although uncertain times might make adopting new services feel risky, now is precisely the moment to stay ahead of the curve—and FasPsych is the trusted partner to help you lead that change with confidence.
FasPsych can be implemented into your existing environment and use your existing electronic health record, work with your existing staff, and provide high-quality care from providers you approve, all without the need to spend money on signing bonuses or recruiting costs.
Frequently Asked Questions About Mental Health Services and Medicaid Funding
How is Medicaid funding changing?
Medicaid is jointly funded by the federal government and individual states. The federal government matches state spending at varying rates depending on the state’s income levels and other factors. Because both state and federal budgets influence Medicaid, changes in legislation, economic conditions, or policy priorities at either level can directly impact funding for mental health services.
How does Medicaid funding impact mental health services?
Medicaid is the single largest payer for mental health services in the U.S., accounting for about 25% of all payments. Any changes in Medicaid funding, such as the recent $11 billion in cuts, will dramatically affect provider budgets, staffing decisions, and patient access to care.
Why is telepsychiatry an effective solution during Medicaid funding uncertainty?
Telepsychiatry offers flexible, scalable psychiatric staffing without the high upfront costs of recruitment, onboarding, and sign-on bonuses. It allows organizations to adjust staffing levels in real-time to reflect reimbursement changes or budget constraints, helping ensure continuity of care.
How does FasPsych help manage psychiatric staffing challenges?
FasPsych eliminates the financial and logistical burden of recruitment and turnover. They provide qualified, vetted psychiatric providers via telemedicine and can scale services up or down based on your current needs, without costly severance, tail insurance, or turnover delays.
Is FasPsych a cost-effective option for mental health service providers?
Absolutely. By avoiding sign-on bonuses, lengthy hiring cycles, and high turnover costs, FasPsych provides a cost-effective, responsive solution that adapts to your budget and patient needs, particularly crucial when Medicaid funding is in flux.
Summary: Why Telepsychiatry with FasPsych Makes Sense Amid Medicaid Funding Uncertainty
In today’s shifting healthcare landscape, Medicaid funding is under more scrutiny and instability than ever. With proposed Medicaid cuts and legislative changes affecting behavioral health services, organizations must adopt adaptable solutions that reduce organizational risk and maintain continuity of care.
FasPsych, a leading mental health service provider, offers a telepsychiatry staffing model that removes the burden of recruitment costs, mitigates turnover risks, and provides scalable psychiatric care tailored to changing organizational needs.
By leveraging telepsychiatry, organizations can respond more nimbly to changes in Medicaid reimbursement, avoid costly full-time staffing disruptions, and continue delivering high-quality psychiatric services. With experience serving FQHCs, CMHCs, correctional facilities, and other publicly funded clinics, FasPsych is a trusted, future-ready partner for navigating the uncertainty ahead.