📍Indiana
Strengthening Healthcare Workforce Development through Partnerships
Challenge:
How can a state best address critical shortages of healthcare and behavioral health professionals across rural and medically under-resourced communities?
Solution:
Addressing these shortages requires collaborative approaches that enhance workforce development, training, and placement while improving access to quality care. The Affiliated Service Providers of Indiana, Inc. (ASPIN) employs a structured partnership model to develop sustainable collaborations that support healthcare workforce training and placement. Their key initiatives include:
- Behavioral health workforce development: Collaborates with universities to provide internship and practicum opportunities in rural and high-need areas. Secures funding to support tuition reimbursement and stipends for behavioral health students and establishes clinical supervision networks to strengthen workforce retention.
- Community Health Worker (CHW) Training Program: Provides state-certified CHW training, emphasizing behavioral health integration. Leverages employer partnerships to support workforce placement and job retention and expands training access through hybrid and online delivery models.
- Telehealth expansion and integration: Implements telehealth solutions to address rural provider shortages, develops partnerships with primary care and behavioral health providers to integrate telehealth services, and offers technical assistance and training to ensure successful adoption.
- Behavioral health and primary care integration (BPCI): Strengthens partnerships between primary care and behavioral health providers. Supports evidence-based models such as Collaborative Care Management (CoCM) and secures funding for cross-training initiatives to enhance integrated care delivery.
Impact:
✅ Expanded the behavioral health workforce, with over 150 interns placed in medically under-resourced areas annually.
✅ Increased employer engagement, leading to higher retention rates for trained CHWs.
✅ Enhanced telehealth adoption, improving access to care in rural communities.
✅ Strengthened behavioral health and primary care collaboration through integrated care initiatives.
✅ Established sustainable funding mechanisms through federal, state, and private partnerships.