The Association for Behavioral Healthcare (ABH) urged the Joint Committee to report Senate Bill S.1392 favorably, telling lawmakers the Commonwealth needs a cross‑agency inventory and strategic plan for specialty behavioral health services for children and families.

Lydia Conley, ABH president and CEO, said Massachusetts already offers a wide array of children's behavioral health services—outpatient counseling, in‑home therapy, residential treatment, mobile crisis and school‑based services—but that access, funding and eligibility rules are split across multiple agencies and payers. She described an “alphabet soup” of program acronyms and said families and providers find the system confusing, with long wait lists and inconsistent coverage across MassHealth, commercial insurance and state agency programs.

ABH recommended a stakeholder process to catalog services, their funding sources and regulatory frameworks and to produce a five‑year strategic plan that anticipates federal funding changes and workforce shortages. Conley said the goal is to reduce duplication, improve navigation for families and align investments across purchasers.

Committee members did not take a formal vote during the hearing; ABH asked for a favorable report and emphasized the bill’s role as a planning and coordination exercise rather than a new entitlement program.