Behavioral health-care workforce development program - creation - rules - report

(1) There is created in the behavioral health administration the behavioral health-care workforce development program, referred to in this section as the "program". The purpose of the program is to increase the behavioral health-care workforce's ability to treat individuals, including youth, with severe behavioral health disorders. (2) To implement the program, the BHA shall: (a) Develop an online training system that allows for accessible statewide training opportunities; (b) (I) Develop an online training curriculum for providers in rural and metro areas to increase competencies in mental health and substance use disorders that will support a high-quality, trained, culturally responsive, and diverse behavioral health-care workforce. (II) The office shall also: (A) Develop a process to track, store, and create reports concerning the training and continuing education in the curriculum developed pursuant to subsection (2)(b)(I) of this section and to track providers' completion of in-person and virtual training offered pursuant to this subsection (2)(b); and (B) Collaborate with credentialing entities to track peer support professionals in the state. (c) Provide fiscal incentives for lower income individuals to obtain a degree in behavioral health, with funding specifically targeted for rural areas of the state; (d) Provide training to the existing behavioral health-care workforce to be certified in federally reimbursed services; and (e) Provide capacity-building grants to diversify the safety net provider workforce and meet the requirements of part 3 of article 50 of this title 27. (3) The state board may promulgate rules as necessary for the implementation of this section. (4) For the state fiscal year 2021-22 and each state fiscal year thereafter for which the program receives funding, the BHA shall report a summary of the expenditures from the program, the impact of the expenditures in increasing the behavioral health-care workforce, and any recommendations to strengthen and improve the behavioral health-care workforce as part of its annual presentation to the general assembly required under the "State Measurement for Accountable, Responsive, and Transparent (SMART) Government Act", part 2 of article 7 of title 2.