A new one-year psychiatry fellowship for advanced nurse practitioners (ARNPs) received a boost with a $6.6 million grant from Premera Blue Cross. The fellowship, being developed in partnership with the School of Nursing, will accept up to four advanced registered nurse practitioners (ARNP) fellows each year starting in 2023. Training will focus on inpatient, outpatient, telehealth consultation and integrated psychiatric care for mental health conditions, and include rotations at primary care clinics and at the new Behavioral Health Teaching Facility at UW Medical Center – Northwest.
The training provided by this fellowship will also allow psychiatric mental health nurse practitioners to develop their expertise and serve as psychiatric consultants through the Collaborative Care Model. Developed at UW Medicine to treat common and persistent mental health conditions such as depression and anxiety, the Collaborative Care Model integrates mental health services into primary care clinics with regular psychiatric case consultation for patients who are not improving as expected.
The investment continues Premera’s initiatives to address the nation’s growing mental health crisis. In Washington state, 1 in 5 adults and 1 in 6 youth ages 6–17 experience a mental health disorder each year, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness. In the past year, however, among both adults and adolescents with a mental health condition, more than half did not receive any treatment — primarily due to a shortage of qualified clinicians.
“If we want to see improvements to 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 better access to mental healthcare. Developing a strong workforce means communities will benefit for years to come.”
