On Aug. 22, the Florida Center for Behavioral Health Workforce (FCBHW), housed within the USF College of Behavioral and Community Sciences, hosted the first convening of Florida’s four designated behavioral health teaching hospitals: Tampa General Hospital, UF Health Shands, UF Health Jacksonville, and Jackson Memorial Hospital.
This historic gathering began the collaborative development of best practices for integrated workforce development under Senate Bill 330. The partnership will advance best practices and policy recommendations to strengthen Florida’s behavioral health workforce.
Key discussion areas included:
- Setting the context:
- Workforce challenges: provider shortages, retention issues, geographic disparities and how FCBHW is addressing them through research, education, and collaboration
- Systemic barriers: Medicaid billing restrictions for trainees, licensure reciprocity challenges, and compliance differences across settings.
- Hospital innovations: new residency and fellowship expansions, facility upgrades, development of new service lines, and implementation of innovative care models
- Recruitment and retention: strategies to support professionals in underserved and rural areas, focusing on loan repayment, work-life balance, and leveraging state and federal funding
This collaboration represents an “all-hands-on-deck” approach with hospitals, universities, agencies, and communities united to ensure all Floridians have access to timely, high-quality behavioral health care. Next steps include advancing best practices through ongoing working meetings and developing policy recommendations to support implementation.