Gov. Mike Johanns and State Sen. Jim Jensen today announced the details of a plan developed by Nebraska’s two academic health science centers on how they might help the state improve its behavioral health services.
The University of Nebraska Medical Center and Creighton University submitted the plan at the request of Gov. Johanns and Sen. Jensen, chairman of the Legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee. Over the past three and a half months, a 20-member team comprised of representatives from the two academic health science centers and the Department of Health and Human Services developed the plan titled “The Nebraska Academic Health Centers Plan for Excellence in Behavioral Health.”
The plan analyzes Nebraska’s existing behavioral health structure and how an academic, governmental and private partnership could better serve the entire state. It calls for a statewide effort that would improve the access, quality and financial availability of behavioral health services.
The plan also calls for the academic health science centers to join with local, regional and state partners to help advance access and quality of care for an improved behavioral health system. The two health science centers could assist local communities and the state in delivering state-of-the-art education, research, outreach and select patient services to all Nebraskans.
“I applaud UNMC and Creighton University for providing their expertise in developing this statewide plan,” Gov. Johanns said. “It’s an excellent proposal of how our two academic health science centers can assist us as we move toward improving behavior health services across Nebraska.”
Sen. Jensen said, “I want to compliment the two institutions for so readily responding to our request. The Rural Health Education Network has served as a great model in providing health care professionals in underserved areas and lends itself well as a model in training behavioral health professionals. This plan is an excellent step forward in helping us address this statewide issue.”
James Armitage, M.D., former dean of the UNMC College of Medicine and the plan development team leader, said, “We appreciate the Governor giving us this opportunity to help shape the quality of behavioral health services in Nebraska for generations to come. As the state’s only two academic health science centers, we can offer considerable expertise that can be used to benefit the entire state of Nebraska. We propose to address this through the creation of the Nebraska Center of Excellence in Behavioral Health.”
Fred Salzinger, associate vice president for health sciences at Creighton University, said, “Our goal is to use the knowledge base of the two academic medical centers to assist the state in improving behavioral health care for all Nebraskans.”
UNMC and Creighton propose to increase the number of professionals being trained in behavioral health, bolster the quantity and quality of behavioral health research and improve access to outstanding clinical care.
The two institutions could lend support in numerous ways, Dr. Armitage said, including recruiting more students into behavioral health, providing communities with more trained professionals, increasing access to behavioral health expertise through tele-health and tele-education, and producing statewide training programs for clinicians.
The proposed Nebraska Center would provide staffing and expertise to offer appropriate inpatient, crisis care and community-based services to patients, and it would assist behavioral health professionals in promoting, developing and refining mental health and substance abuse services in all communities and regions throughout the state.
“The Nebraska Center would become a statewide resource and training ground for public-sector behavioral health,” Salzinger said. “It also would integrate clinical services and research, along with helping communities set up community-based programs based on their identified need.”
“We realize that we must contribute to the solution to improved behavioral health services in Nebraska,” Dr. Armitage said. “There is much work to be done, but we are eager to join colleagues across the state in improving access and quality of care for patients and to assist the state in creating a national model for behavioral health services.”