Behavioral health and addiction issues were among the three most pressing concerns for hospital CEOs in 2023, according to the American College of Healthcare Executives' annual survey of top issues confronting hospitals.
The latest survey, published in January, marked the second consecutive year that hospital CEOs have ranked workforce challenges, financial challenges, and behavioral health and addiction issues as the top three concerns, and the third consecutive year that workforce or personnel challenges have been the top-ranked issue.
Workforce challenges — which include personnel shortages, as well as staff burnout, among other workforce issues — had an average score of 2.3 on an 11-point scale of how pressing CEOs find each issue. Financial challenges, which held the top spot for 16 consecutive years prior to 2022, were listed as the second-most pressing concern, with an average score of 2.6. Behavioral health and addiction issues were listed as the third-most pressing concern, with an average score of 5.3. The lower the number, the more concerning the issue for CEOs.
Here are the specific concerns within behavioral health and addiction issues that hospital CEOs identified, according to the survey:
Note: CEOs could check as many options as they wanted. The survey is based on responses from 241 CEOs of community hospitals (nonfederal, short-term, nonspecialty hospitals) who are ACHE members.
Lack of appropriate facilities/programs in community: 83%
Lack of funding for addressing behavioral health/addiction issues: 77%
Insufficient reimbursement specifically for behavioral health/addiction services: 72%
High volume of opioid addiction and related conditions: 45%
Overcoming societal judgment about mental health and substance abuse disorders: 34%
Legal/regulatory framework limiting treatment options: 29%