Bowen’s Playbook for Enhancing Indiana’s Mental and Behavioral Health Workforce is getting attention in the press across Indiana. Check out this article from the Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette:
Indiana has a shortage of mental health professionals, a situation a provider describes as a crisis, a report released Wednesday says.
“The Playbook for Enhancing Indiana’s Mental and Behavioral Health Workforce” seeks to address that shortage by identifying opportunities and recommendations to strengthen the state’s pipeline of those professionals.
Indiana’s mental health care is in crisis, with both real-life impacts on the everyday lives of millions of Hoosiers and for the long-term economic outlook of our state. Our Playbook tackles that crisis head-on, offering concrete policy solutions to increase the number of mental health care workers in Indiana. Find out more here.
Mark your calendars for an inspiring evening at the upcoming CTS Talks, a series of lectures given at Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis, featuring a thought-provoking presentation by our director, Dr. Hannah L. Maxey. As a guest speaker, Dr. Maxey will deliver a talk titled “Mental Health: The Crisis and a Call to Action for People of Faith.” This timely discussion will address the critical issue of mental health in America and its significant impact on individuals and communities of faith. Dr. Maxey will explore how faith communities are uniquely positioned to respond to this crisis, challenging attendees to become ambassadors of love and hope. Her expertise promises to shed light on the silent struggles many face due to stigma and the difficulties in accessing care amidst professional shortages.
CTS Talks is known for its TED Talk-style lectures that bring together intellectual curiosity and community reflection. By participating in this event, our director contributes to a broader conversation on mental health and faith.
I am most passionate about mental health in two ways. One is regarding the mental health of our children and everything they navigate through with technology and social media. As parents, we are watching our children grow up in a world that differs greatly from the world we grew up in as children. Children are being exposed to technology and devices at a young age, whether it be personally or through friends. Devices provide them with an entire online world, including social media. Our family experienced just how detrimental this can be to our children’s mental health.
Our personal story is one that I don’t share often but I will say, we are truly fortunate to have had a close-knit village of friends and family who helped us on our journey and without them, we wouldn’t have made it through. From a parent’s perspective, the biggest challenge we faced was trying to educate ourselves while also trying to afford therapists and additional resources. Therapy is costly, and many therapists do not accept insurance. Prior to joining the Bowen Center, my family struggled with mediocre health insurance, but without it, we would have gone broke trying to get our daughters the help they needed. Covering $125 weekly therapy sessions out of pocket was costly, but in our minds, absolutely necessary. We were willing to pay any amount to get our daughters the help they needed.
Second, is the story of my sister, Taylor Nielsen, a former police officer who began struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder in 2016, following a traumatic case. More information on her personal story is found in the 2018 article New Police Mental Health Awareness Law Celebrated. Taylor inspired the Law Enforcement Mental Health and Wellness Act. She was honored to attend President Trump’s January 30th, 2018 State of the Union address as Senator Donnelly’s guest.
While what she experienced was tragic, what transpired from that experience will be life-changing for so many. She has since left the department and moved to Arizona, where she is taking classes toward her Psychiatry license, focusing on working with first responders. In addition, our daughter is attending IU Bloomington this fall to major in Psychology. I am very proud of both of them for being strong enough to share their stories and for using their experiences to help others who are struggling!
Bowen Center Director Dr. Hannah Maxey presented August 1 the Playbook for Enhancing Indiana’s Mental and Behavioral Health Workforce to the Indiana Commission to Combat Substance Use Disorder. Indiana faces an enormous challenge of recruiting and retaining a sufficient number of mental and behavioral health workers, with every county in the state meeting the criteria for a federally designated workforce shortage in these areas.
The results are staggering, with real-life implications for hundreds of thousands of Hoosiers:
Top Health Workforce Themes in the 2024 Legislative Session
Let’s cut to the chase. What health workforce legislation has been introduced in the 2024 session? There were a few major themes that arose. We have conceptualized these themes and summarized the outcomes below.
Nursing Workforce
This session has seen many legislative initiatives related to the nursing workforce. One such bill (SB 45) would establishadditional training requirements in trauma-informed care for all licensed Registered Nurses (RN). One bill would modify certain licensure requirements for health facility administrators, allow NCLEX passage to satisfy English proficiency requirements for internationally-educated nurse applicants, and eliminate telehealth certification requirement for telehealth nurses and other telehealth providers (HB 132). The final nursing-focused bill making progress this session makes various changes to nurse licensing, education, and training regulations regarding requirements for clinical preceptors, and requirements for certain foreign nursing applicants (HB 1259).
Bills under this theme that were introduced but did not progress include: a bill removing the collaborative practice agreement with physicians and APRNS, and allows a APRN with prescriptive authority to prescribe a schedule II substance (HB 1059); a requirement for nurses to complete implicit bias training as part of their continuing education requirements (HB 1167); establishment of nurse staffing councils within hospitals in order to develop nurse staffing plans (HB 1015); allowing Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists to administer anesthesia under the immediate presence of a podiatrist or dentist, which is currently only allowed under the presence of a physician (HB 1371).
EMS
There have been several bills introduced regarding Hoosier emergency medical services professionals (EMS) this session. HB 1142 would establish a program of recognition for first responders killed or injured in the line of duty. A new grant pilot program was introduced in SB 10 for the purpose of assisting in the costs of mobile integrated health care programs and mobile crisis teams across Indiana. Finally, SB 142 would require healthcare coverage for mobile integrated healthcare and emergency medical services for all state employees on the state employee health plan (and other insurers).
Bills under this theme that were introduced but did not progress include: HB 1118 would establish a program to support the mental health of first responders through the Indiana first responders mental health wellness fund and program.
Regulatory Changes
House Bill 1214 would add Indiana to the Dental and Dental Hygienist Licensure Compact.
Bills under this theme that were introduced but did not progress include: A bill proposing the expansion of eligible clinical experience supervision to include physicians, and psychologists for the Clinical Social Work Licensure and expansion of supervision through telehealth (SB 261); bills that would establish new licenses – Professional Music Therapists (HB 1103) and Naturopathic Physicians (SB 262); and a bill (SB 110) that would add Indiana as a member of the Social Work Compact.
Behavioral Health Workforce
A bill proposed in the House would allow a Social Worker licensee applicant to take the social worker examination during their last term of a program that meets educational requirements, and provides a letter of good standing from the director of the academic department (HB 1138). This bill would allow a student to sit for their professional exam early if all requirements in the bill are met. House Bill 1238 would add certain physician assistants and advanced practice nurses as potentially qualifying professionals to serve as competency evaluators in criminal proceedings (previously only psychiatrists and psychologists).
Bills under this theme that were introduced but did not progress include: SB 166 which would have allowed community mental health center staff to provide social work services without a license and remove examination requirement for BHHS temporary permits; SB 261 which would have expanded the qualifications for clinical experience supervisors for clinical social workers and expanded tele-supervision.
Other health workforce themes from legislators that didn’t make it to the second chamber:
Health Workforce Incentives
There were a few bills related to health workforce specific incentives, including a bill that would establish a medical school loan forgiveness pilot program (HB 1175). Another bill would establishanIndiana rural hospital and critical health care services fund, new health workforce student loan repayment program, and associated health workforce advisory board (advisory board (HB 1196).
There’s More on the B4!
One way we monitor health workforce trends is by tracking Indiana health workforce legislation through implementation of the Bowen Bi-Weekly Bill Brief or “B4.” There are many other health and workforce/education-related bills that have been introduced this session. Check out the full B4 to learn more about those bills and keep track of the active bills as they progress through the second half of session!
