102ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2021 and 2022
SB1979

 

Introduced 2/26/2021, by Sen. Laura Fine

 

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
 
New Act

    Creates the Behavioral Health Workforce Education Center of Illinois Act. Creates the Behavioral Health Workforce Education Center of Illinois, to be administered by a specified public institution of higher education for the purpose of leveraging workforce and behavioral health resources to produce reforms in Illinois. Provides for the structure and duties of the Center. Provides for the selection of the public institution of higher education to administer the Center. Provides for the adoption of rules. Effective immediately.


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FISCAL NOTE ACT MAY APPLY

 

 

A BILL FOR

 

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1    AN ACT concerning education.
 
2    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
3represented in the General Assembly:
 
4    Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the
5Behavioral Health Workforce Education Center of Illinois Act.
 
6    Section 5. Findings. The General Assembly finds as
7follows:
8        (1) There are insufficient behavioral health
9    professionals in this State's behavioral health workforce
10    and further that there are insufficient behavioral health
11    professionals trained in evidence-based practices.
12        (2) The Illinois behavioral health workforce situation
13    is at a crisis state and the lack of a behavioral health
14    strategy is exacerbating the problem.
15        (3) In 2019, the Journal of Community Health found
16    that suicide rates are disproportionately higher among
17    African American adolescents. From 2001 to 2017, the rate
18    for African American teen boys rose 60%, according to the
19    study. Among African American teen girls, rates nearly
20    tripled, rising by an astounding 182%. Illinois was among
21    the 10 states with the greatest number of African American
22    adolescent suicides (2015-2017).
23        (4) Workforce shortages are evident in all behavioral

 

 

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1    health professions, including, but not limited to,
2    psychiatry, psychiatric nursing, psychiatric physician
3    assistant, social work (licensed social work, licensed
4    clinical social work), counseling (licensed professional
5    counseling, licensed clinical professional counseling),
6    marriage and family therapy, licensed clinical psychology,
7    occupational therapy, prevention, substance use disorder
8    counseling, and peer support.
9        (5) The shortage of behavioral health practitioners
10    affects every Illinois county, every group of people with
11    behavioral health needs, including children and
12    adolescents, justice-involved populations, working
13    adults, people experiencing homelessness, veterans, and
14    older adults, and every health care and social service
15    setting, from residential facilities and hospitals to
16    community-based organizations and primary care clinics.
17        (6) Estimates of unmet needs consistently highlight
18    the dire situation in Illinois. Mental Health America
19    ranks Illinois 29th in the country in mental health
20    workforce availability based on its 480-to-1 ratio of
21    population to mental health professionals, and the Kaiser
22    Family Foundation estimates that only 23.3% of
23    Illinoisans' mental health needs can be met with its
24    current workforce.
25        (7) Shortages are especially acute in rural areas and
26    among low-income and under-insured individuals and

 

 

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1    families. 30.3% of Illinois' rural hospitals are in
2    designated primary care shortage areas and 93.7% are in
3    designated mental health shortage areas. Nationally, 40%
4    of psychiatrists work in cash-only practices, limiting
5    access for those who cannot afford high out-of-pocket
6    costs, especially Medicaid eligible individuals and
7    families.
8        (8) Spanish speaking therapists in suburban Cook
9    County, as well as in immigrant new growth communities
10    throughout the State, for example, and master's-prepared
11    social workers in rural communities are especially
12    difficult to recruit and retain.
13        (9) Illinois' shortage of psychiatrists specializing
14    in serving children and adolescents is also severe.
15    Eighty-one out of 102 Illinois counties have no child and
16    adolescent psychiatrists, and the remaining 21 counties
17    have only 310 child and adolescent psychiatrists for a
18    population of 2,450,000 children.
19        (10) Only 38.9% of the 121,000 Illinois youth aged 12
20    through 17 who experienced a major depressive episode
21    received care.
22        (11) An annual average of 799,000 people in Illinois
23    aged 12 and older need but do not receive substance use
24    disorder treatment at specialty facilities.
25        (12) According to the Department of Public Health,
26    opioid overdoses have killed nearly 11,000 people in

 

 

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1    Illinois since 2008. Just last year, nearly 2,000 people
2    died of overdoses, almost twice the number of fatal car
3    accidents.
4        (13) Behavioral health workforce shortages have led to
5    well-documented problems of long wait times for
6    appointments with psychiatrists (4 to 6 months in some
7    cases), high turnover, and unfilled vacancies for social
8    workers and other behavioral health professionals that
9    have eroded the gains in insurance coverage for mental
10    illness and substance use disorder under the federal
11    Affordable Care Act and parity laws.
12        (14) As a result, individuals with mental illness or
13    substance use disorders end up in hospital emergency
14    rooms, which are the most expensive level of care, or are
15    incarcerated and do not receive adequate care, if any.
16        (15) There are many organizations and institutions
17    that are affected by behavioral health workforce
18    shortages, but no one entity is responsible for monitoring
19    the workforce supply and intervening to ensure it can
20    effectively meet behavioral health needs throughout the
21    State.
22        (16) Workforce shortages are more complex than simple
23    numerical shortfalls. Identifying the optimal number,
24    type, and location of behavioral health professionals to
25    meet the differing needs of Illinois' diverse regions and
26    populations across the lifespan is a difficult logistical

 

 

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1    problem at the system and practice level that requires
2    coordinated efforts in research, education, service
3    delivery, and policy.
4        (17) This State has a compelling and substantial
5    interest in building a pipeline for behavioral health
6    professionals and to anchor research and education for
7    behavioral health workforce development. Beginning with
8    the proposed Behavioral Health Workforce Education Center
9    of Illinois, Illinois has the chance to develop a
10    blueprint to be a national leader in behavioral health
11    workforce development.
12        (18) The State must act now to improve the ability of
13    its residents to achieve their human potential and to live
14    healthy, productive lives by reducing the misery and
15    suffering of unmet behavioral health needs.
 
16    Section 10. Behavioral Health Workforce Education Center
17of Illinois.
18    (a) The Behavioral Health Workforce Education Center of
19Illinois is created and shall be administered by a teaching,
20research, or both teaching and research public institution of
21higher education in this State. Subject to appropriation, the
22Center shall be operational on or before July 1, 2023.
23    (b) The Behavioral Health Workforce Education Center of
24Illinois shall leverage workforce and behavioral health
25resources, including, but not limited to, State, federal, and

 

 

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1foundation grant funding, federal Workforce Investment Act of
21998 programs, the National Health Service Corps and other
3nongraduate medical education physician workforce training
4programs, and existing behavioral health partnerships, and
5align with reforms in Illinois.
 
6    Section 15. Structure.
7    (a) The Behavioral Health Workforce Education Center of
8Illinois shall be structured as a multisite model, and the
9administering public institution of higher education shall
10serve as the hub institution, complemented by secondary
11regional hubs, namely academic institutions, that serve rural
12and small urban areas and at least one academic institution
13serving a densely urban municipality with more than 1,000,000
14inhabitants.
15    (b) The Behavioral Health Workforce Education Center of
16Illinois shall be located within one academic institution and
17shall be tasked with a convening and coordinating role for
18workforce research and planning, including monitoring progress
19toward Center goals.
20    (c) The Behavioral Health Workforce Education Center of
21Illinois shall also coordinate with key State agencies
22involved in behavioral health, workforce development, and
23higher education in order to leverage disparate resources from
24health care, workforce, and economic development programs in
25Illinois government.
 

 

 

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1    Section 20. Duties. The Behavioral Health Workforce
2Education Center of Illinois shall perform the following
3duties:
4        (1) Organize a consortium of universities in
5    partnerships with providers, school districts, law
6    enforcement, consumers and their families, State agencies,
7    and other stakeholders to implement workforce development
8    concepts and strategies in every region of this State.
9        (2) Be responsible for developing and implementing a
10    strategic plan for the recruitment, education, and
11    retention of a qualified, diverse, and evolving behavioral
12    health workforce in this State. Its planning and
13    activities shall include:
14            (A) convening and organizing vested stakeholders
15        spanning government agencies, clinics, behavioral
16        health facilities, prevention programs, hospitals,
17        schools, jails, prisons and juvenile justice, police
18        and emergency medical services, consumers and their
19        families, and other stakeholders;
20            (B) collecting and analyzing data on the
21        behavioral health workforce in Illinois, with detailed
22        information on specialties, credentials, additional
23        qualifications (such as training or experience in
24        particular models of care), location of practice, and
25        demographic characteristics, including age, gender,

 

 

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1        race and ethnicity, and languages spoken;
2            (C) building partnerships with school districts,
3        public institutions of higher education, and workforce
4        investment agencies to create pipelines to behavioral
5        health careers from high schools and colleges,
6        pathways to behavioral health specialization among
7        health professional students, and expanded behavioral
8        health residency and internship opportunities for
9        graduates;
10            (D) evaluating and disseminating information about
11        evidence-based practices emerging from research
12        regarding promising modalities of treatment, care
13        coordination models, and medications;
14            (E) developing systems for tracking the
15        utilization of evidence-based practices that most
16        effectively meet behavioral health needs; and
17            (F) providing technical assistance to support
18        professional training and continuing education
19        programs that provide effective training in
20        evidence-based behavioral health practices.
21        (3) Coordinate data collection and analysis, including
22    systematic tracking of the behavioral health workforce and
23    datasets that support workforce planning for an
24    accessible, high-quality behavioral health system. In the
25    medium to long-term, the Center shall develop Illinois
26    behavioral workforce data capacity by:

 

 

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1            (A) filling gaps in workforce data by collecting
2        information on specialty, training, and qualifications
3        for specific models of care, demographic
4        characteristics, including gender, race, ethnicity,
5        and languages spoken, and participation in public and
6        private insurance networks;
7            (B) identifying the highest priority geographies,
8        populations, and occupations for recruitment and
9        training;
10            (C) monitoring the incidence of behavioral health
11        conditions to improve estimates of unmet need; and
12            (D) compiling up-to-date, evidence-based
13        practices, monitoring utilization, and aligning
14        training resources to improve the uptake of the most
15        effective practices.
16        (4) Work to grow and advance peer and parent-peer
17    workforce development by:
18            (A) assessing the credentialing and reimbursement
19        processes and recommending reforms;
20            (B) evaluating available peer-parent training
21        models, choosing a model that meets Illinois' needs,
22        and working with partners to implement it universally
23        in child-serving programs throughout this State; and
24            (C) including peer recovery specialists and
25        parent-peer support professionals in interdisciplinary
26        training programs.

 

 

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1        (5) Focus on the training of behavioral health
2    professionals in telehealth techniques, including taking
3    advantage of a telehealth network that exists, and other
4    innovative means of care delivery in order to increase
5    access to behavioral health services for all persons
6    within this State.
7        (6) No later than December 1 of every odd-numbered
8    year, prepare a report of its activities under this Act.
9    The report shall be filed electronically with the General
10    Assembly, as provided under Section 3.1 of the General
11    Assembly Organization Act, and shall be provided
12    electronically to any member of the General Assembly upon
13    request.
 
14    Section 25. Selection process.
15    (a) No later than 90 days after the effective date of this
16Act, the Board of Higher Education shall select a public
17institution of higher education, with input and assistance
18from the Division of Mental Health of the Department of Human
19Services, to administer the Behavioral Health Workforce
20Education Center of Illinois.
21    (b) The selection process shall articulate the principles
22of the Behavioral Health Workforce Education Center of
23Illinois, not inconsistent with this Act.
24    (c) The Board of Higher Education, with input and
25assistance from the Division of Mental Health of the

 

 

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1Department of Human Services, shall make its selection of a
2public institution of higher education based on its ability
3and willingness to execute the following tasks:
4        (1) Convening academic institutions providing
5    behavioral health education to:
6            (A) develop curricula to train future behavioral
7        health professionals in evidence-based practices that
8        meet the most urgent needs of Illinois' residents;
9            (B) build capacity to provide clinical training
10        and supervision; and
11            (C) facilitate telehealth services to every region
12        of the State.
13        (2) Functioning as a clearinghouse for research,
14    education, and training efforts to identify and
15    disseminate evidence-based practices across the State.
16        (3) Leveraging financial support from grants and
17    social impact loan funds.
18        (4) Providing infrastructure to organize regional
19    behavioral health education and outreach. As budgets
20    allow, this shall include conference and training space,
21    research and faculty staff time, telehealth, and distance
22    learning equipment.
23        (5) Working with regional hubs that assess and serve
24    the workforce needs of specific, well-defined regions and
25    specialize in specific research and training areas, such
26    as telehealth or mental health-criminal justice

 

 

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1    partnerships, for which the regional hub can serve as a
2    statewide leader.
3    (d) The Board of Higher Education may adopt such rules as
4may be necessary to implement and administer this Section.
 
5    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
6becoming law.