ERNA DC Provides Written Testimony on Child Behavioral Health Services Dashboard

Testimonial

Jul 11

Minetre Martin

Organizing Manager, DC

Education Reform Now Advocacy

Committee on Health Hearing on:

B25-0692 – “Enhancing Mental Health Crisis Support and Hospitalization Amendment Act of 2024”
B25-0759 – Child Behavioral Health Services Dashboard Act of 2024
B25-0696 – Advancing the Range of Reproductive Options for Washingtonians Amendment Act of 2024
PR25-0840 – Board of Dentistry Dr. Eric Bradshaw Confirmation Resolution of 2024
PR25-0841 – Board of Dentistry Dr. Jonelle Anamelechi Confirmation Resolution of 2024

Good afternoon, Chairperson Henderson, Councilmembers, and staff of the Committee on Health. My name is Minetre Martin. I am a ward 4 resident and an Organizing Manager for the D.C. Chapter of Education Reform Now Advocacy (ERNA), an organization fighting for a just and equitable public education system for all students. Thank you for holding this hearing. I am here to provide comments on B25-759, the Child Behavioral Health Services Dashboard Act of 2024, introduced by Councilmember Zachary Parker.

ERN-DC supports B25-0759, which requires the Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services to create a public dashboard of behavioral health services in DC by September 30, 2025. The dashboard would include features such as the ages the provider serves; what services/therapies provided and whether the service is LGBTQIA+ friendly; the provider’s language(s), ethnicity, and gender; the types of insurance accepted; and the zip code where services are provided (and whether telehealth is offered). Baltimore and Philadelphia have similar dashboards.[1]

For families seeking behavioral health care for their children, navigating providers’ websites and calling their offices to determine potential fit can be extremely time-consuming. Creating a public dashboard is a common-sense solution to anyone who has ever had to find a speciality provider.

Consider the challenges of a typical teenager in our District struggling with undiagnosed anxiety or depression. With 38% of students exposed to at least one adverse childhood experience[2] and only 68% of our schools having full-time clinicians,[3] many students in general education classrooms without an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) or a 504 plan lack access to school based mental health services due to staff shortages, according to interviews I’ve conducted with clinicians. This teenager may be one who doesn’t get support at school. Her working parents might spend months searching for an external provider while her condition worsens. A centralized dashboard could rapidly connect families to suitable providers, potentially preventing months of academic declines and emotional distress for our vulnerable youth, such as this teen.

For families whose students face behavioral health challenges, making it easier to access care may help improve students’ attendance and outcomes in the classroom. This is important because nearly half of our students are still missing significant instructional time due to chronic absenteeism.[4] In addition, DC student outcomes on the 2023 PARCC were very low: just 22% of students met grade level mastery in math and 34% in reading.[5]

For these same reasons, ERN-DC also supports investments in school-based behavioral and mental health services. I testified earlier this year before this Committee regarding school-based recommendations.[6] Specifically, practitioners in schools need more training and resources to support students. Local educational agencies (LEAs) should also seek diverse community partners in planning behavioral health supports and interventions. Finally, LEAs must provide competitive compensation for school-based behavioral health professionals to ensure they have sufficient staff to serve students’ needs.

In conjunction with the development of a dashboard, we urge the Committee on Health to encourage the Department of Health Care Finance to change DC’s Medicaid claiming policy, as at least 25 states have done in the past two years,[7] so that LEAs can bill Medicaid for all covered health services delivered to all students enrolled in Medicaid. By expanding the Medicaid claiming policy, LEAs can generate more funds that could then be used to deliver supports, like behavioral health services, to all students.