Premera Blue Cross Invests in University of Washington Psychiatry Fellowship for Advanced Nurse Practitioners

New Program Will Help Address Growing Mental Health Workforce Crisis

The New Behavioral Health Teaching Center at UW Medical Center – Northwest

Mountlake Terrace, Washington, 08 Dec. 10, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Premera Blue Cross today announced a $6.6 million grant to the University of Washington (UW) for the UW Psychiatry Fellowship for Advanced Nurse Practitioners (ARNP). An innovative program in the region, the fellowship will accept up to four ARNP psychiatric fellows each year beginning in 2023. The training, which will include rotations at primary care clinics and a new behavioral health teaching center at UW Medical Center – Northwest, will focus on inpatient, outpatient, telehealth and integrated psychiatric care for mental health disorders.

This investment furthers Premera’s goal of addressing the growing mental health crisis. In Washington, one in five adults and one in six young people between the ages of 6 and 17 suffer from a mental health disorder each year, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness. However, more than half of people – adults and adolescents – with a mental health problem have not received any treatment in the past year.

While stigma continues to be a barrier to seeking care, the shortage of providers presents an additional challenge. In Washington, 35 of 39 counties are federally designated mental health professional shortage areas with limited access to providers such as clinical psychologists, clinical social workers, psychiatric nurses and therapists. marital and family. Additionally, nearly half of the state’s counties — all of which are in rural areas — do not have a single psychiatrist providing direct patient care.

“If we want to see improvements in healthcare in the future, we need to invest in sustainable solutions now,” said Jeffrey Roe, President and CEO of Premera Blue Cross. “The University of Washington continues to find innovative ways to provide greater access to mental health care. Developing a strong workforce means communities will benefit for years to come.

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The training provided by this fellowship will enable psychiatric mental health nurse practitioners to further develop their expertise and serve in a variety of roles in Washington. This includes serving as a psychiatric consultant within the collaborative care model, leveraging their expertise in partnership with primary care teams for patients in both urban and rural settings. Developed at UW Medicine to address common and persistent mental health issues such as depression and anxiety, the collaborative care model integrates mental health services in primary care clinics with regular psychiatric case consultation for patients. which are not improving as expected.

“Our future fellows will transform access to effective mental health care across Washington State through collaboration, community support, and sustainable access to evidence-based care for patients and families” said Dr. Anna Ratzliff, professor of psychiatry at the University of Washington School. of Medicine.

“This fellowship will prepare a new pipeline of psychiatric mental health nurse practitioners for leadership roles in complex clinical care environments, mentoring other nurses and interprofessional mental health providers, and improving equitable access to care. mental health,” said Azita Emami, UW’s executive dean. School of Nursing. “This program, developed in collaboration between the University of Washington Schools of Nursing and Medicine and the UW Medical Center, will serve as a precedent for expanding collaborative education and training efforts into other areas. specialty,” said Tatiana Sadak, acting associate dean for academic studies. Business at the UW School of Nursing.

This investment builds on Premera and UW’s goal of improving health outcomes across Washington State, including:

• Premera’s $10 million investment in 2019 in the UW School of Medicine to support the integration of the collaborative care model into primary care clinics in rural areas. To date, 23 clinics have implemented the collaborative care model through this grant.

• A $4.7 million grant from Premera in 2020 to the UW School of Nursing, which established the Rural Nursing Health Initiative. This program placed nearly 40 ARNP students in rural practices in Washington.

This joint advanced clinical training program also represents a unique partnership between the UW School of Medicine and the UW School of Nursing – two premier schools at the University of Washington. The UW School of Nursing is the nation’s first public nursing school with a doctor of nursing practice program, while the UW School of Medicine has the nation’s first primary care education and training program, according to US News and World Report. The UW School of Medicine also offers the largest psychiatry residency program in the nation, with more than 90 residents trained at any one time. Serving as a training ground for ARNP Fellows, it is the only academic psychiatry department serving the Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana, and Idaho area.

These investments are part of Premera’s broader strategy to improve access to care in rural areas, specifically focused on recruiting and training doctors, nurses and health auxiliaries; clinical integration of behavioral health; programs to increase the capacity of mental health crisis centers in rural areas; and grants for small equipment to rural providers.

About Premera Blue Cross

Premera Blue Cross, a nonprofit independent licensee of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association based in Mountlake Terrace, Wash., is a leading health plan in the Pacific Northwest, providing comprehensive health benefits and services tailored to more than 2.75 million people, from individuals to Fortune 100 companies.

About UW School of Nursing

The University of Washington School of Nursing is consistently one of the top-ranked nursing schools, with the #1 ranking among public nursing schools with a DNP program, according to US News & World Report . The UW School of Nursing is a national and international leader in improving the health and well-being of individuals, families, and communities. The school addresses society’s most pressing health care challenges through innovative teaching, award-winning research, and community service. For more information, visit www.nursing.uw.edu.

About the UW School of Medicine

The UW School of Medicine serves a five-state region: Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana, and Idaho (WWAMI). U.S. News & World Report currently ranks the UW School of Medicine as the best in the nation for primary care education and training and second in the nation for NIH research grants with $1.3 billion for the fiscal year 2020. The school has approximately 4,800 students and interns. of Medicine.

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CONTACT: Amanda Lansford Premera Blue Cross 425-918-3975 amanda.lansford@premera.com Susan Gregg UW School of Medicine 206-390-3226 sghanson@uw.edu Alex Abplanalp UW School of Nursing 206-351-6058 ann08@uw.edu