Washington § 28B.20.530 - Behavioral health innovation and integration campus.

(1) A behavioral health innovation and integration campus is created within the University of Washington school of medicine. The campus must include inpatient treatment capacity and focus on inpatient and outpatient care for individuals with behavioral health needs while training a behavioral health provider workforce. The training must include an interdisciplinary curriculum and programs that support and encourage professionals to work in teams. The training must use current best practices, including best practices in suicide prevention, must encourage innovation of future best practices in order to provide behavioral health care across the entire spectrum of health care providers, and must be culturally appropriate, including training specifically appropriate for providing care to federally recognized tribes and tribal members.

(2) The siting and design for the new campus should take into account local community needs and resources, with attention to diversity and cultural competence, a focus on training and supporting the next generation of health care providers, and close coordination with existing local and regional programs, clinics, and resources.

Findings—Intent—2019 c 323: "The legislature finds that there is a need for services for individuals with behavioral health needs, and there is a shortage of behavioral health workers in Washington state. The legislature further finds that there is a need for a trained workforce that is experienced in fully integrated care and able to address a full range of needs, including primary care, mental health, substance use disorder, and suicide prevention, in all health care specialties. The legislature further finds that there is a need to support rural and otherwise underserved communities around the state with timely telepsychiatry specialty consultation.

The legislature further finds that the University of Washington school of medicine department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences is a nationally competitive program and has the expertise to establish innovative clinical inpatient and outpatient care for individuals with behavioral health needs while at the same time training the next generation of behavioral health providers, including primary care professionals, in inpatient and outpatient settings. The legislature further finds that the University of Washington school of medicine department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, along with the University of Washington schools of nursing, social work, pharmacy, public health, the department of psychology, and other relevant disciplines, are especially well-situated to take on the task of developing this transformational service-oriented programming.

Therefore, the legislature intends to partner with the University of Washington to develop plans for the creation of the University of Washington behavioral health innovation and integration campus to increase access to behavioral health services in the state. Planning for the campus should also include capacity to provide inpatient care for up to one hundred fifty individuals who receive extended inpatient psychiatric care at western state hospital under the state's involuntary treatment act, chapter 71.05 RCW." [ 2019 c 323 s 1.]