Below is the text of a letter sent to individual members of the Massachusetts congressional delegation.
Thank you for your leadership in opposing cuts to Medicaid in the federal budget process. I am writing to let you know how proposed cuts would affect the communities served by Riverside Community Care and to ask you to do all you can to stop efforts to cut Medicaid.
Riverside Community Care, based in Dedham, is one of the largest non-profit providers of community-based behavioral healthcare and human services in Massachusetts. Our mission is to make a difference in the lives of individuals, families and communities through innovative and compassionate community-based behavioral healthcare and human services. With an annual budget of $139M, Riverside operates 116 different programs across 73 locations in Massachusetts, serving approximately 40,000 people annually. We provide services throughout much of eastern Massachusetts, the Blackstone Valley and southern Worcester County.
Riverside employs 1,700 individuals ranging from licensed health care professionals such as doctors, nurses and social workers to lived experience staff such as Certified Peer Specialists, Recovery Coaches and Family Partners, to direct care residential staff and care coordinators. Our employees subscribe to our Core Values that excellence is critical to everything we do, and that quality care should be available to all.
I am writing to you on behalf of the entire Riverside community, including the individuals and families we support to express our strong opposition to any cuts in funding for Medicaid. 70% of the individuals we serve are MassHealth members. The services we provide MassHealth members are entirely dependent on a strong and robust Medicaid program. Proposals to reduce Medicaid funding through reductions in FMAP or through a block grant model will devastate access to critical behavioral healthcare and human services. Federal cuts to Medicaid will result in reductions in services for individuals with significant mental health and substance use disorders, intellectual and developmental disabilities, children, and families.
Community based behavioral health and human service organizations like Riverside already struggle to fill open positions – we currently have 150 job openings – largely because current reimbursement rates for Medicaid services are not high enough. Cuts to Medicaid will exacerbate these challenges in a way that is unimaginable. A diverse and respectful workforce is essential to our mission, yet we are unable to attract and retain enough staff currently to fully meet the needs of the communities we serve.
Please do everything you can to ensure that Medicaid funding is not reduced as part of the federal budget process. We urge you and your colleagues in the Massachusetts delegation to prioritize protecting access to service for MassHealth members who are among the most vulnerable residents of Massachusetts.
Please contact me if you or your staff have questions about Riverside or the services we provide to MassHealth members. We are available to work with you in any way necessary to protect Medicaid funding. Thank you.
