In the premiere episode of the second season of “Health Care Heart to Heart,” which now is streaming, UNMC Chancellor Jeffrey P. Gold, MD, returns to discuss health topics of the day. His first guest of 2024 is Marley Doyle, MD, director of the Behavioral Health Education Center of Nebraska.
“Health Care Heart to Heart” premiered in 2023. Over 15 podcast episodes, Dr. Gold spoke on health and wellness issues with people such as Timothy Shriver, PhD, chairman of Special Olympics International Board of Directors, Atul Grover, MD, PhD, AAMC’s executive director for the Research and Action Institute, and others.
In 2024’s first podcast, Drs. Gold and Doyle discuss BHECN’s efforts to address the shortage of behavioral health professionals across the state of Nebraska.
“BHECN was founded in 2009 to try to address the problem of the behavioral health shortages,” Dr. Doyle says, pointing to a 44% increase in the behavioral health workforce since BHECN started tracking the data.
“This is in a time that most states are plateauing or decreasing,” she tells Dr. Gold. “So we’re doing something right. We can’t prove that it’s all because of BHECN, but we do know that our state is an outlier in the national trend.”
The bad news, Dr. Doyle said, is that there still is a great disparity between urban and rural settings.
“We have tried over the past decade to increase the number of training opportunities in rural areas with the intention that students, if they have the opportunity to train there, they will stay and practice.”
“Health Care Heart to Heart” posts new podcasts every other week, as Dr. Gold speaks to national, regional and local health care leaders on issues of importance. On each new episode, Dr. Gold and his guests will share information, explore health care challenges and opportunities and leave listeners thinking about how they, too, can make a difference.
“Health Care Heart to Heart” episodes will be updated on the official podcast website and can be streamed on the following platforms: Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Google Podcasts.