Berkshire County — Due to an estimated $800,000 loss so far in fiscal 2026, Community Health Programs (CHP) Berkshires has laid off three full-time employees and has ended its mobile health unit.
The Great Barrington-based organization offers numerous health services and programs, including services through a sliding-fee discount program; mobile health clinics; and services in the Great Barrington Community Health Center, Lee Family Practice, Pittsfield Neighborhood Health Center, North Adams Family Medical and Dental, and other various pediatric and dental services in locations throughout Berkshire County.
In June 2024, the organization laid off eight employees and reduced various employee benefits because of a $4 million shortfall.
CHP CEO Bethany Kieley told The Berkshire Edge that the organization recently laid off a director of quality and patient experience and two positions in the organization’s marketing and communications department. “Additionally, we reduced hours for a couple of staff members who worked some of their hours on the mobile health unit and in some of the other departments,” Kieley said. “Previously, we had two mobile health units. We suspended one of those units because we didn’t have enough patient volume to support the two units. Then we tried to find the right balance to keep the mobile health unit on the road, but the patient demand wasn’t there anymore because the COVID activities all disappeared.”
Kieley explained that keeping CHP’s mobile health unit operational was too expensive for the organization. “It just can’t financially sustain itself operationally,” Kieley said. “You have to have a certain critical mass of staff for safety reasons and to deliver care. Additionally, operating those mobile units is expensive, and it costs much more than a brick-and-mortar healthcare site.”
Kieley added that state and federal funding, including additional funding related to the pandemic, has slowly dried up over the last two years. “We previously received PPP (Paycheck Protection Program) funding and funding to support providing COVID vaccinations,” she said. “Initially, COVID vaccines were made available to everyone for free. Around the fall of 2023, that ceased to happen.”
Kieley explained that the organization had to deal with additional costs for various construction projects, including the opening of a dental office in Adams, a reopening of its dental practice in Great Barrington, and an expansion at Lee Family Practice, all of which took place last year. “We have made a lot of investments in the organization through our capital projects,” Kieley said. “We added providers, and we built up some of our infrastructure to support our programs in new and better ways. The expectation was that, by the time some of those [pandemic-related] one-time funding sources were no longer available, we would have the revenue to sustain [programs]. The fact is, that just hasn’t happened. This is why we are realigning how we’re operating our organization to make sure we’re sustainable. We’re in a period in the business cycle where we’re looking very closely at how we are structured, where we’re making investments and some tough decisions.”
Kieley said that the organization may face even more tough decisions considering a budgetary resolution passed by Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives that would result in $880 billion in cuts to Medicaid. “These cuts, if passed [by the Senate], would hurt community health organizations, including CHP,” Kieley said. “We are fortunate to be in Massachusetts, a state that understands the value and importance of Medicaid and the value of community health centers,” Kieley said. “But the state has only so much funds, and the state is already dealing with fiscal constraints. It’s very uncertain what will happen if there are significant cuts at the federal level.”
Kieley said 12 percent of CHP’s revenue comes directly from a federal grant administered through the Health Resources and Services Administration. “We do know that our funding through them is secure through the end of March, and our notice of award comes at the end of July,” Kieley said. “It’s hard to say what direction this will go in. I can’t tell you what the future holds because I don’t know what cuts will come.”
Kieley said that the organization is facing additional hardships resulting from the Trump administration’s policies. “We are concerned with some of the activities limiting DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion),” she said. “DEI is at the heart and soul of our mission, to be here for the underserved and those who are marginalized. We are also very worried about the potential for increased ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) focused on the immigrant community, which are also patients and community members that we serve. Our worries are much more than just financial. We are worried about how these other changes are affecting the people that we serve, and we are looking for ways that we can continue to support them, even beyond what we’ve done previously.”
Kieley said that CHP will continue to offer its telehealth programs to residents who do not feel comfortable coming to one of its locations. “We are also training our staff about what to do if ICE comes into our sites,” Kieley said. “We’re not just trying to focus on the money but also focus on the needs of the people that we care for to make sure they are getting what they need.”
In the meantime, Kieley said that the organization’s fundraising efforts continue all year round. “For many reasons, we’re often not seen as an organization at the top of people’s contribution lists,” Kieley said. “There are good reasons for that because we do receive external funding from the government, and we do bill for services. But the type of care and the wraparound services that we provide are different from other medical providers. We want to continue to provide that model of care, which is why we welcome donations.”
Kieley added that, despite the challenges and uncertainty, she believes the organization will survive. “We’ve been here for 50 years, and we’re going to be here for another 50 or 100 years,” Kieley said. “We won’t disappear. We can’t. We are here for essential purposes: to serve the needs of Berkshire County residents and provide them with healthcare services. We will provide a path forward. Can I tell you that the organization will look exactly as it is today if there are significant cuts in federal or Medicaid funding? No. But we will still be here. It’s just a question of how we retool to respond to those outside forces.”
