Welcome to the Behavioral Health Initiative Page.

The Behavioral Health Initiative (BHI) was started by the Kim Foundation as a working committee of those concerned with and working to improve behavioral/mental health care in Nebraska: legislators, healthcare providers, corporate leaders, and representatives from public and non-profit agencies.

The goal of the committee is to increase communication and partnership between these groups as we seek a common solution to the Behavioral/mental health care crisis.

The BHI Page serves as a clearinghouse on current and ongoing legislative issues related to mental health care in Nebraska. This page provides summaries of current and pending legislation, links to local, state, and national government representatives, and other related information.

Please visit this page often, as the content is updated on an ongoing basis.

	Contact Your Legislators		Read Current BHI Survey Results
	Speaking Opportunities		Volunteer Opportunities

Support Nebraska Legislation to Help Behavioral Health

Nebraska Legislative Bill 724
Behavioral Health Reform Act

This is an ‘intent’ bill only; funding has not been allocated.

The bill proposes to:

	Consolidate three Regional Centers into one
	Reinvest savings from consolidation into community-based services
	Pay professional services at Regional Centers on an hourly basis for services actually provided
	Reduce the number of regions and restructure governing boards
	Eliminate county match requirements within regions (maintenance of effort required)
	Prohibit regional governing boards from directly providing services; allow those who are
	currently providing services to establish separate nonprofit with separate Board
	Integrate all public funding for behavioral health within HHS
	Create separate division for all behavioral health; Governor to appoint chief administrative and
	chief clinical officer

Read LB 724 on the Nebraska Unicameral website:

http://www.unicam.state.ne.us/PDF/FINAL_LB724_1.pdf

For more Information:

The mental health reform link on the home page of the Governor's website provides a list of documents related to the reform effort. It includes articles, news releases, the Lewin Report, and FAQs.
http://www.gov.state.ne.us/mentalHealth/index.html