Mental health case worker jobs still in limbo

Yahoo

06-05-2025

BOSTON (SHNS) – State mental health care workers secured some job security in the final House budget but are staring down new uncertainty in the Senate Ways and Means Committee budget.
Ways and Means took no explicit action to maintain the Department of Mental Health case manager workforce, which Gov. Maura Healey proposed slashing in half from 340 to 170 individuals in her fiscal 2026 budget recommendation. Representatives blocked the layoffs within a mega-amendment to their budget last week.
Ways and Means Chair Sen. Michael Rodrigues said his team 'spent a lot of time talking about this,' and deferred to an aide when asked if the committee's budget would maintain the DMH jobs. Rodrigues later said the workforce volume supported by the budget is an 'administrative question' that should be posed to DMH.
'This is the one where there's an active labor conversation going on between the administration and the DMH case workers' union,' SWM budget director Christopher Czepiel said during a briefing. 'So we're proposing that we don't wade into that issue, and let the administration negotiate that. And if it needs to come back for supplemental funding at a later date, we would consider it then.'
Rodrigues said mental health is a 'big priority' for the Senate, and while case manager levels are uncertain in the Ways and Means budget he said the panel wants 'real robust mental health services.'
'What's currently funded provides enough resources to serve the needs of the DMH community,' the Westport Democrat said. 'If, who knows what contracts and negotiations with CBAs, we pass supplemental budgets all the time in order to deal with new collective bargaining agreements. And we'll be prepared to, if need be, we want to ensure that there's real robust mental health services in the commonwealth.'
In response to a follow-up question from a reporter, Rodrigues replied he did not know whether the SWM budget cuts case managers.
Czepiel chimed in, 'We don't explicitly prescribe language to that effect in here. It gives flexibility to the administration to manage those negotiations.'
The House Ways and Means Committee budget also gave no relief to DMH case managers, as Chair Aaron Michlewitz similarly cited a 'collective bargaining conversation.' He told reporters in mid-April that lawmakers will likely need to tackle the issue in a supplemental budget once the Healey administration and union members reach an agreement. The House then adopted a floor amendment stating that 'department case manager staffing levels shall not be reduced below fiscal year 2025 case manager staffing levels.'
The threatened layoffs would save the state $12.4 million, the Executive Office of Health and Human Services has said. DMH Commissioner Brooke Doyle told lawmakers at a budget hearing her department is reshuffling resources to invest in strained inpatient psychiatric care.
SEIU Local 509, whose members recently took a vote of no-confidence in Doyle, is at odds with DMH over a more flexible care model for case managers as the state adapts to a potentially smaller workforce. Union President Dave Foley said the Healey administration's claims about the parties being engaged in 'negotiations' are 'completely inaccurate and misleading.'
'Let me be clear: while we have remained open to doing everything we can to save these services, the administration walked away from a series of conversations with DMH workers and union leadership several weeks ago after refusing to budge on these cuts,' Foley said in a statement to the News Service Tuesday. 'The Governor's continued effort to push a misleading narrative comes across as a delay to finding a real solution and pressuring us into accepting a deal that maintains a dangerous reduction in services. If this administration truly cares about mental health, they should be focused on stopping these cuts, not undermining our efforts to save these vital services.'
Administration spokespeople did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Foley's remarks.
The SWM budget directly saves hospitals and other health care facilities that Healey initially proposed shuttering to save costs. Like the House, SWM would maintain funding for three youth mental health treatment facilities for patients dealing with serious illnesses and safety issues.
State-run public health hospitals would receive $237.7 million under the SWM budget, with $31 million earmarked for operations at Pappas Rehabilitation Hospital for Children in Canton, which treats patients with severe disabilities. Healey, who paused her plan to close Pappas, had recommended $206.7 million for the account.
The House Ways and Means Committee budget proposed $217 million to collectively fund all public health hospitals, with no clear distinction in money between Pappas, Tewksbury Hospital and Lemuel Shattuck Hospital. Representatives adopted an amendment to create a legislative commission to study the future of Pappas while keeping it open, with language also barring the state from cutting services or consolidating care with another hospital until that commission produces a report by the end of 2026.
Pocasset Mental Health Center, a 16-bed psychiatric hospital on Cape Cod that Healey also hit pause on shutting down, would receive $4.8 million under the SWM budget.
The HWM budget directed funding to maintain operations at Pocasset, but the committee did not specify an allocation for the facility within broader funding for DMH. Representatives steered an additional $50,000 to 'improve the mental health rooms' at Pocasset through a budget amendment, though Rep. David Vieira had pushed for a bigger allocation of $200,000.
'We want to ensure that those two very important mental health centers are not closed this fiscal year,' Rodrigues said of Pappas and Pocasset.
Budget amendments are due Friday, and senators are likely to file proposals to install additional protections or funding streams for DMH case managers, Pappas and Pocasset. Budget debate will kick off on May 20.
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