Socorro Mental Health, 1200 Highway 60, Socorro
Attracting and retaining workers in Socorro County has been a challenge for Socorro Mental Health, often leaving positions vacant. This can mean that people wait longer for an appointment, because fewer providers are available.
“I feel like the community is really frustrated that they can’t get an appointment. We would love for everyone to participate, but we can only do what we have the staff to do, and our staff works very hard. These people come in every hour of the day,” said Deborah Bankson, clinical services manager for Presbyterian Medical Services sites in Socorro and Catron counties.
Some of the challenges that make it difficult to find staff are finding people who want to live in Socorro. New hires often take the job and plan to commute from Los Lunas or Albuquerque.
“They start by saying, oh, I don’t mind driving. After a year of driving, they worry about driving,” Bankson said.
Medicare reimburses licensed behavioral health therapists, and qualified behavioral health therapists are difficult to recruit and retain, Bankson said. She believes this is a statewide challenge, not just in Socorro, but, “Socorro has a lot of strength, it’s just not showing up well right now,” she said.
“People want to be where there are things to do, where there is art in the square, cafes, restaurants, music. We’re having trouble attracting our medical staff. We are having trouble attracting licensed behavioral health physicians,” Bankson said.
Another barrier is the reimbursement rate for council members. Prescribing psychologist John Courtney believes that unless the government and managed care offer better pay and incentives for mental health providers, hiring will continue to be a problem.
“Unless you make it more attractive for people to come to this field and stay in the field and continue to work for agencies like this, we will continue to have a shortage of people who are willing to come and work in communities like Socorro. Courtney said.
A Therapist position at Socorro Community Health Center is open. That therapist conducts brief interventions for people who score significantly on a healthy living questionnaire. Socorro Mental Health is also trying to recruit a psychosocial rehabilitation instructor.
“That program is so powerful, if you have one person doing that full time, there are large groups of people who can get into those kinds of treatment programs and I’m telling you, they get better,” Courtney said.
Courtney’s new admissions are booked for three months, so having an additional prescribing psychologist would also be helpful.
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The Socorro Mental Health front desk has a backup list for people who would like to be called before their appointment if space opens up. This is because people don’t show up for behavioral health services every day.
Mental health issues like depression can make it hard for people to get motivated to show up for appointments, and cancellations are common.
“In a sense, the pandemic exposed a barrier, but PMS responded quickly in a way that was really consistent with what everyone else did as well,” Courtney said.
Phone visits and video visits have been added to allow patients to access providers during the pandemic.
Significantly more patients began keeping their appointments when phone and video visits were added.
“I went from days where I could have a 50 to 60 percent filing rate to more than 90 percent filing rates,” Courtney said.
It appears that phone and video visits will continue to be available as insurance companies and the government appear willing to continue to reimburse for those services.
