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By Hannah Yang, Minnesota Public Radio News

Minnesota State University, Mankato announced a five-year agreement with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota in opening The Rural Behavioral Health Clinic later this year. It will be adjacent to the campus.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield pledged $5 million for the project. This is in addition to the state Legislature allocating $1.5 million in spring 2023 to establish the clinic. Another $1 million in federal money was recently approved.

Operating as a community-based outpatient mental health center, this clinic will also be an academic training center for students enrolled in MSU Mankato’s social work, counseling and student personnel, alcohol and drug studies, psychology and nursing programs.

This dual role is unique in Minnesota, said President Edward Inch in a statement.

“There are no other academic training clinics in the state that are also specifically focused on providing integrated outpatient mental health services to rural Minnesotans,” said Inch.

The clinic will serve Minnesota’s southern central region, covering Blue Earth, Brown, Faribault, Le Sueur Martin, Nicollet, Watonwan and Waseca counties.

Barriers to care

Rural patients living in greater Minnesota often encounter barriers to receiving services including having to travel great distances to see mental and behavioral health care providers.

Brett Hart, vice president of mental and behavioral health parity at Blue Cross, said the partnership with MSU Mankato is intended to make access to these services more equitable.

“Geography should not be a barrier between accessing mental and behavioral health services,” Hart said. “Far too often, especially in greater Minnesota, mental health needs far exceed available resources.”

MSU Mankato is working with the Minnesota Department of Human Services on licensing the new facility. Once that is complete the clinic can start credentialing and contracting processes by Blue Cross and other healthcare payers for network inclusion.

Initially the Rural Behavioral Health Clinic will provide in-person mental health counseling, case management and medication management to clients of all ages.

Eventually, the clinic will offer more services including psychoeducation evaluations and substance-use disorder counseling, said Roy Kammer, interim associate dean for the College of Allied Health and Nursing at MSU Mankato. Kammer also added technology installed at the clinic can also allow for future expansion of virtual face-to-face client services.

“I hope that we have a lot to share with others and this can become a way that we can help to support the rural behavioral health workforce, not just here, but all throughout Minnesota, all throughout the Midwest, all throughout the U.S.,” Kammer said. “There’s a lot of underserved rural areas and I really hope that we’re onto something that we can help figure out how to help others get more practitioners into rural areas.”

The Center for Rural Behavioral Health opened in fall 2022 to improve access to behavioral health care for greater Minnesota residents, including residents of recognized tribal reservations.