LINCOLN — Seven behavioral health care providers have been selected to launch a new certification program designed to improve mental health and substance use care across the state — and provide around-the-clock crisis help for Nebraskans.

Called the Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics initiative, the effort has been described as “transformational.” To start, it will involve: CenterPointe, Community Alliance, Heartland Counseling Services, Heartland Family Services, Lutheran Family Services, South Central Behavioral Health Services and The Well.

“This is a significant step for Nebraska,” said Matt Ahern, interim director of the Department of Health and Human Services’ Medicaid and Long-Term Care division. “We’re really excited about this model because it incentivizes a more integrated care — a whole person approach rather than segmenting behavioral health from physical health and everything else happening in a person’s life.”

Serves all

Selection of providers, announced Wednesday, follows passage last year of Legislative Bill 276, the Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic Act, sponsored by State Sen. Anna Wishart of Lincoln and signed into law by Gov. Jim Pillen. 

CCBHCs emerged from the Excellence in Mental Health Act, a federal law signed in 2014 to improve the nation’s mental health system. The model ensures that clinics provide a wide array of services, such as crisis response, medication management, psychotherapy and community and peer support.

In return, providers are allowed to participate in a restructured payment model that better accounts for costs associated with services, according to a DHHS news release. Certified clinics are required to serve anyone who requests care for mental health or substance use, regardless of their ability to pay, place of residence or age. 

Over the next year, the Nebraska DHHS divisions of Behavioral Health and Medicaid and Long-Term Care will work with the seven provider organizations to develop services needed to meet the state requirements and federal criteria determined by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. 

Programs are to be up and running by January 2026.

“The CCBHC model allows a clinic to truly focus on delivering the quality of care and breadth of services a person needs,” said Thomas Janousek, director of DHHS Behavioral Health. “It focuses on reducing administrative barriers for providers which ultimately results in better care for the individuals it serves.”

‘No-brainer’

By launching the initiative, Wishart said, the state is “transforming” the way Nebraskans access mental health and substance abuse care, in a coordinated and comprehensive way that fills service gaps.

“This is a monumental step toward building healthier and stronger communities,” she said Wednesday.

Wishart has said she expects the CCBHCs to reduce emergency room visits and incarcerations. Data from other states that have implemented such clinics have shown reductions in law enforcement involvement and hospital usage, state officials have said.

Pillen has called the legislation a “no-brainer” for Nebraska. His testimony at a legislative hearing in early 2023 surprised some, as the Republican governor stepped across the political aisle to speak on behalf of a bill introduced by a Democrat, Wishart. 

At the time, Pillen said that Nebraskans “must come together to solve tough problems.”

After completing the certification program, a provider is to be recognized as a CCBHC, offering integrated physical and behavioral health services to Nebraska families. Services are to include: around-the-clock crisis support; easy access to mental health and substance use care; tailored treatment plans; specialized care for veterans and military personnel; peer support; comprehensive psychiatric rehabilitation.

Scripps News and Decision Desk HQ project voters in Nebraska will not pass a measure that would have enshrined stronger abortion protections in the state constitution.

Nebraska’s Initiative 439 would have amended the state’s constitution to provide access to abortion until fetal viability, which is at the end of the second trimester around 24 weeks. It would have also included life of the mother exceptions and very clearly stated that it’s up to the practitioner to determine viability.

The measure narrowly failed. Counting of ballots continued for weeks after election night.

The measure, along with Nebraska Initiative 434, were both on Nebraska’s ballot in the November election.

RELATED STORY | Nebraska votes to ban abortion after first trimester

Voters passed Initiative 434, which bans abortion after the first trimester. It includes exceptions for medical emergencies, rape and incest.

Nebraska law will continue to ban abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy. That law went into effect in June of 2023. It includes exceptions for saving the life or health of the mother and for rape or incest.

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) – A pedestrian was killed early Tuesday morning in a crash in eastern Nebraska, the Otoe County Sheriff’s Office says.

Around 5 a.m., deputies received a report of a pedestrian wearing dark-colored clothing walking on Highway 2 near Nebraska City.

Before deputies arrived, the pedestrian — later identified as 18-year-old Harrell Jackson Jr. of Omaha — had been hit by a vehicle.

First responders tried saving Jackson’s life, but he was later pronounced dead at the scene.

The sheriff’s office said Jackson had been walking in the traffic lane on the Highway 2 on-ramp when he was hit by a vehicle.

An investigation is ongoing.