States can expand the workforce, support existing providers, and harness technology to close gaps, according to a new Inseparable report
Vermont Business Magazine The majority of Vermont residents in need of mental health care are unable to access it due to a severe shortage of mental health providers, according to a new report released today by Inseparable, a national mental health advocacy organization, examining the nationwide mental health workforce crisis.
The Workforce Report: Bridging the Mental Health Care Gap illuminates several concerning factors leading to a statewide mental health workforce crisis, including low pay, high education costs and provider burnout. For every $1 a physician assistant earns in Vermont, a therapist earns 62 cents, creating a pay gap that pushes providers out of the field and deters new clinicians from joining. As a result, Vermont patients are forced to go out-of-network for mental health care 4.4 times more often than for medical or surgical care.
Vermont’s provider shortages are part of a growing national trend exposed in the report, which finds that no state comes close to meeting its mental health workforce needs and nearly half of Americans with a mental health condition receive no treatment.
On top of that, more than 80 percent of people with a substance use disorder go without care – in part because 144 million Americans (42 percent of the population) live in areas without enough mental health professionals, often as a result of misaligned policies, burdensome requirements, and harmful insurance practices that keep providers from entering or staying in the field, according to the report. In the four states with the most catastrophic shortages, patients simultaneously face inadequate access to psychiatric hospitals, community mental health providers, and crisis care.
The Workforce Report: Bridging the Mental Health Care Gap National Toplines:
- Nearly half of states meet 25 percent or less of their need, meaning at least three-quarters of required workforce capacity is missing. The highest-performing state meets just over 58 percent of its mental health workforce need, and only four states exceed 50 percent.
- At least 14 states report catastrophic shortages in state psychiatric hospitals. At least 17 states report catastrophic shortages in community mental health providers. At least 13 states report catastrophic shortages in behavioral health crisis systems. Four states report catastrophic shortages across all three systems — hospitals, community providers, and crisis care.
- Mental health providers are typically paid less than medical providers for comparable services, driving many providers out of insurance networks and limiting access to care. In 18 states (including Vermont), therapists earn 70 cents or less for every $1 earned by a physician assistant. In seven states, psychiatrists earn 70 cents or less for every $1 earned by a medical or surgical clinician.
"Across the country, people are reaching out for help and facing endless waitlists, exorbitant out-of-pocket costs, or no providers at all. This has life and death consequences — and it's the result of policies and insurance practices that undervalue mental health care," said Angela Kimball, Chief Advocacy Officer at Inseparable. "We need to make it easier for providers to join and stay in the workforce, so that families can access the care they need in their communities at a price they can afford."
The report identifies three high-impact categories of policy, with clear strategies, concrete policy solutions, and specific examples from states, including workforce pipelines, telehealth flexibilities, licensure reform, provider reimbursement, data infrastructure, and provider wellbeing. Additionally, the report provides state-specific snapshots on the adoption of policies to strengthen the mental health workforce. Key findings and state snapshots are available in the executive summary and the full report at https://www.inseparable.us/workforce/.
Inseparable has spent the past five years advocating to protect and expand access to mental health care at the state and federal levels, including notable policy advancement in Colorado, Delaware, Washington, Utah, Oklahoma, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, and more.
About Inseparable: Inseparable is a national mental health advocacy organization founded on the principle that mental health is inseparable from physical health. Inseparable drives transformative change at the federal and state levels by engaging bipartisan policymakers, mobilizing support, and advancing mental health and substance use disorder policies that help people thrive. Inseparable works to expand access to care, promote youth mental health, improve crisis response, and strengthen the mental health workforce.
3.10.2026 Inseparable
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