Emergency Stabilization Funding for Behavioral Health Providers During COVID-19

Organization: State Medicaid Agency (MassHealth)
Focus Area: Financial Stabilization & Policy Development
Challenge: At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, hundreds of behavioral health clinics in Massachusetts faced financial collapse due to the inability to bill for in-person care—placing access at risk for thousands of Medicaid members.
Approach:
• Led policy design from within the Office of Behavioral Health
• Secured $94M in federal/state stabilization funding
• Created a distribution methodology based on prior-year billing
• Coordinated legal, finance, and vendor teams to execute distribution
• Developed performance standards tied to telehealth adoption
Impact: Maintained continuity of care across Massachusetts by stabilizing over 100 behavioral health clinics during the peak of the pandemic.