71-5681. Legislative findings and declarations.
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/ne/chapter-71/71-5681A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.
The Legislature hereby finds and declares that:
(1)Eighty-eight of Nebraska's ninety-three counties are classified as mental and behavioral health profession shortage areas by the federal Health Resources and Services Administration and the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services;
(2)The Department of Health and Human Services reports that seventy-four percent of the state's psychiatrists, psychologists, and licensed mental health practitioners live and practice in the urban areas of Omaha and Lincoln, which leaves the remaining seventy-two thousand square miles of Nebraska to be covered by approximately one-fourth of the professionals licensed to practice behavioral health in Nebraska;
(3)Thirty-eight Nebraska counties have one or no licensed behavioral health professional; and
(4)Reductions in federal funding will result in the elimination of over five thousand five hundred behavioral health patient visits in rural Nebraska.