Funded Projects

Problem:

Nebraska's population in 2022 was 1,967,923, those of which 484,109 (24.6%) were children under the age of 18.8 If 17% of the population experiences mental/behavioral health disorders, this would suggest that over 80,000 children and youth in Nebraska need mental/behavioral health services annually.

Goals and Objectives:

Goal #1. Provide expert behavioral health consultation services to primary care providers through the clinical demonstration project, to increase capacity of the primary care workforce to serve children and youth with mild to moderate mental and behavioral health issues. Goal #2. Provide and promote trainings on child and adolescent behavioral disorders, including screening, diagnosis, and treatment; promote existing NEP-MAP services. Goal #3. Align statewide efforts to support screening, diagnosis, and treatment of child and adolescent behavioral disorders. Goal #4. Expand NEP-MAP activities in scope and reach to benefit pediatric mental health care access in partnership with primary care providers and others.

Methodology:

NEP-MAP includes a tele-behavioral health consultation line (TBHC Line) administered by the University of Nebraska Medical Center's Clinical Demonstration Project for primary care providers. Training, alignment, expansion, and evaluation efforts will support the TBHC Line.

Coordination:

Partners will provide training to primary care providers and professionals involved in care coordination, screening, referral, and treatment for behavioral health. Expansion will be a collaborative effort, with work from NDHHS, the Clinical Demonstration Project, and University of Nebraska Public Policy Center.

Evaluation:

Evaluation will be a collaborative effort with design by all involved partners, data collection by all partners, and evaluation activities mainly by evaluators from the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Public Health.