Kansas, New York, Massachusetts Deploy Surveys to Map BH Workforce
NASHP describes how Kansas, New York, and Massachusetts are using behavioral health workforce surveys to fill gaps left by licensing data, which cannot show whether licensed professionals are actively practicing, what insurance they accept, or which populations they serve. Kansas's Behavioral Sciences Regulatory Board built a 2025 survey spanning seven behavioral health professions, using profession-specific advisory committees and about 60 engaged stakeholders to standardize topics for cross-profession comparison. States are pairing survey data with licensure, claims, and labor market information to target training investments, modernize licensure rules, and build funding cases. The piece outlines design principles, including collecting practice-setting and retention data and structuring surveys around specific policy questions states need answered.