HR built for Georgia behavioral health
That is the Georgia reality right now. We build the hiring engine and the personnel documentation that the provider manual actually demands.
Three facts about working in Georgia
Every figure below comes from a Georgia state document or a federal dataset the state itself cites. Follow the link and read it yourself.
what happened to Georgia DSP turnover after the state rate study
Georgia’s direct support turnover fell 31 percent between 2020 and 2023, and full time vacancy now runs 12.4 percent. Georgia went from one of the worst performers to fourth lowest of 26 reporting jurisdictions.
What your regulator actually wrote
We read the rule text, the provider manuals, and the bulletins so you do not have to. Each quote below is copied from the primary document and linked to it.
The provider may not exempt itself from any of these requirements or any portion of the Provider Manual. All requests for waivers of these requirements must be done in accordance with policy.
Read the source document →
The provider has procedures and practices for verifying licenses, credentials, and the knowledge/experience/skills of staff: There is documentation of implementation of these procedures for all staff attached to the organization.
Read the source document →
With the behavioral health provisions now complete, DBHDD is intensifying efforts to achieve release from the remaining provisions of the Olmstead Settlement Agreement, which address community-based services for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Read the source document →
What we would fix first in Georgia
Three problems we hear from Georgia operators, the published evidence behind each one, and the program we run against it.
Georgia spent more than $320 million on rates. Turnover fell. Then it stopped falling.
Georgia ran the experiment every state says it wants to run: raise the rates, raise the wage assumption, watch retention improve. It worked, and then it did not keep working. What happened next is the most useful thing any Southeast state has published about workforce money.
The rate increase did what it was supposed to do
Georgia’s FY2024 rate action raised the modeled direct support wage assumption from $10.63 to $16.70 an hour and set a $14.00 hourly floor, an average increase of 43.6 percent across services.
DBHDD reports direct support turnover falling from 46.7 percent in 2020 to 32.1 percent in 2023, a 14.6 point drop, with average reported wages rising from $11.42 to $13.92. That is a real result and Georgia is right to publicize it.
The first full year after implementation, it ticked back up
In calendar 2024, the first full year after the increase took effect, Georgia’s direct support turnover rose to 33.6 percent. Still below the national mean of 37.1 percent, but moving the wrong way.
And here is the part almost nobody quotes: 35.5 percent of Georgia agencies turned away or stopped accepting new referrals in 2024 because of direct support staffing. The national figure is 26.6 percent. Georgia is now better than average on turnover and worse than average on refused referrals at the same time.
Money bought retention and it did not buy capacity. If your plan for filling posts is to wait for the next rate action, Georgia already ran that test for you.
Below the national average on turnover, above it on turning work away
Same survey, same method, same year. The second set of bars is the one that should worry an operator.
National Core Indicators, State of the Workforce in IDD, 2024 Survey Report, NASDDDS and HSRI, published December 2025. Read the source. This is a point in time ratio: separations during the year divided by headcount on a single day. Georgia’s response rate was 144 of 330 agencies, 43.6 percent, margin of error 6.14 percent. That is the least certain figure on this page and we would rather you knew.
Fourteen Georgia metros. Where does $14.00 an hour actually go?
Georgia set a $14.00 hourly floor for direct support. Pick a metro and see what that floor is competing against, and what it buys.
Direct care wage is the employment weighted median for front line direct care roles. The local wage floor is what the same worker can earn in retail and warehouse work in the same metro. Rent is the HUD Fair Market Rent for a one bedroom, FY2026. Full method and open data at the Direct Care Staffing Index.
Behavioral health has historically been underfunded compared to physical health. This has resulted in aspiring providers facing limited provider training opportunities, existing providers facing higher risk of burnout from difficult working conditions, and individuals and families finding it more difficult to access care, especially in rural areas.
Georgia Healthcare Workforce Commission, Workforce Assessment and Solutions, December 2022, page 16. Read the source.
Three Georgia dates that changed the rules
Licensure moved agencies, federal oversight ended, and background check authority expanded. All within eighteen months.
Licensure moved from DCH to DBHDD
Adult Residential Mental Health Programs, Community Living Arrangements, Drug Abuse Treatment and Education Programs and Narcotic Treatment Programs are now licensed by DBHDD rather than the Department of Community Health. Same rules, different regulator, different review culture.
The DOJ behavioral health settlement ended
A federal judge terminated the remaining behavioral health provisions of the 2010 United States v. Georgia settlement, releasing the state from roughly 60 provisions and ending the associated federal monitoring. IDD provisions remain in force. DBHDD announcement.
House Bill 1097 expanded background check authority
DBHDD can now background check owners, applicants and employees of Adult Residential Mental Health Programs and Drug Abuse Treatment and Education Programs, and owners of Community Living Arrangements, all through CheckPT. If you have not re-read your screening policy since June, it is out of date.
Three things a Georgia provider should do this quarter
Stop waiting for the next rate action
Georgia already showed that rates fix retention and not capacity. If posts sit open, the constraint is sourcing and time to fill, and that is a process you control rather than a budget you petition for.
Re-read your screening policy against HB 1097
Rule 290-9-37-.15(8) already requires GCIC plus fingerprint results, TB screening, first aid and BCLS evidence and 16 hours of documented annual continuing education in every personnel file. The July 1 change widened who gets checked. Compliance Confidence™ reconciles the file to the current rule.
Fix refused referrals before they become lost contracts
More than a third of Georgia agencies turned work away in 2024 over staffing. Turning away referrals is the most expensive thing a provider does, because it is revenue you already won. PlacementCare™ is built for exactly that gap.
Start with the Workup
A full diagnostic of your workforce across eight dimensions, scored and mapped, with the gaps ranked. It credits toward any TWF Signature Program.
Built for the organizations others find too complex
Straight answers
Do you work to the DBHDD Provider Manual?
Yes. We build handbooks, personnel files, credential verification procedures, and training records against the current quarter of the DBHDD Provider Manual for Community Behavioral Health Providers.
Do you cover IDD providers under the NOW and COMP waivers?
Yes. We work with IDD and developmental disability providers, including organizations carrying Olmstead settlement obligations on the IDD side.
How fast do you respond?
We respond to new inquiries within 2 hours.
What does the first step cost?
The Workup™ diagnostic starts at $1,750 and credits toward any TWF Signature Program.
Metro pages: Atlanta · Charlotte · Raleigh · Durham · Greenville NC · Nashville · Richmond · Jacksonville · Birmingham. Open workforce data for 90 metros lives at our public dataset.
The Georgia advisory brief
Every rule on this page, quoted in full, dated, and linked to the state document it came from.
Read the Georgia brief →Talk to an HR partner
Get a straight answer about your workforce.
We work exclusively with behavioral health and human services providers. No pitch, just a conversation about where you actually stand.
Your details stay with The Wilkinson Firm and are never sold or shared. Privacy policy.