Cut the red tape. Let people get help when they need it.

People in crisis shouldn’t wait months for care because of slow paperwork and outdated processes. Oregon can end these delays by removing the administrative barriers that keep qualified providers from helping the people who need them most.

This isn’t a workforce shortage — it’s a systems failure. Thousands of Oregonians are stuck on waitlists or turned away, not because we lack skilled professionals, but because our credentialing and onboarding processes are tangled in bureaucracy. Providers are ready to help, but the system won’t let them. By streamlining paperwork, modernizing verification, and investing in digital infrastructure, Oregon can unlock access to care and ensure people in crisis get help when they need it — not months later.

Oregon doesn’t need another task force or another report. We need actionable, structural reforms that remove the barriers preventing clinicians from entering and staying in the workforce. Providers have already outlined the solutions Oregon needs:

1. Create a Single Statewide Credentialing Portal
   One application — not separate forms for every insurer, CCO, and agency. A unified portal would cut onboarding delays from months to weeks and get clients seen faster.
2. Streamline Board Certification & Verification (CAQH‑Enabled)
   Oregon should use CAQH for primary‑source verification instead of forcing providers to repeat the same steps for every payer. This alone would eliminate weeks of redundant processing.
3. Reduce Administrative Burden That Doesn’t Improve Care
   Excessive intake packets, duplicative forms, and documentation requirements that aren’t tied to outcomes must be simplified. Clinicians should treat people — not battle paperwork. #unifiedstatute
4. Modernize Clinical Supervision Rules
   Rural and underserved areas often have no eligible supervisors. Oregon must allow cross‑license supervision, expand tele‑supervision, and fund supervision access where it’s needed most.
5. Consolidate Licensing Oversight
   Licensing delays are a major bottleneck. A unified administrative structure — while keeping each board’s ethical authority — would create predictable timelines and reduce backlogs.
6. Require Workforce Impact Reviews for All New Rules
   Before any new regulation is adopted, agencies must evaluate its administrative burden, cost, and impact on workforce capacity. No more rules that unintentionally make the crisis worse.
7. Protect Clinical Time
   At least 65–70% of a clinician’s time should be protected for direct care and clinical tasks. Administrative creep is driving burnout, not client work.
8. Build a Behavioral Health Workforce Data Dashboard
   Oregon needs transparent, public data on licensing timelines, credentialing delays, workforce shortages, and supervision availability. What gets measured gets fixed.

These reforms are practical, cost‑neutral, and urgently needed. They don’t lower standards — they remove the structural barriers that keep qualified professionals from providing care.

We're calling on the Oregon Health Authority and state legislators to adopt these provider‑led solutions now. Mental health and addiction don’t wait. Bureaucracy shouldn’t either. Sign now to demand action.