Behavioral Health Clinic by Minnesota State and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of MinnesotaBehavioral Health Clinic

Minnesota State and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota (Blue Cross) are teaming up to help tackle rural mental health inequities with the creation of an on-campus behavioral health clinic.  

Blue Cross of Minnesota has chipped in $5 million for the project. That is on top of a $1.5 million allocation by the Minnesota State Legislature and $1 million in recently approved federal funding. 

Initially, the clinic will provide services including in-person mental health counseling as well as case and medication management. These services will be available to patients of all ages, regardless of insurance status. They later hope to expand to offer psychoeducation evaluation and substance use disorder counseling.  

MSU is also seeking to have the clinic licensed as an outpatient mental health clinic, with hopes of becoming a certified community behavioral health clinic (CCBHC) in the future.  

MSU students will also get the opportunity to garner real-world experience at the clinic. Those studying social work, counseling and student personnel, alcohol and drug studies, psychology or nursing.  

This dual purpose is rare, according to MSU President Edward Inch. 

“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. “We thank Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota for its commitment and for joining support from the Minnesota legislature and U.S. Senate to provide critical behavioral health care to our region.” 

The clinic intends to serve rural south-central Minnesota. Greater Minnesota and other rural residents often face increased barriers to accessing services compared to their urban counterparts.  

Brett Hart, vice president of mental and behavioral health parity at Blue Cross, says this partnership will seek to bridge that gap. 

“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.” 

Moreover, he says the clinic is part of Blue Cross’ bigger mission in its “ongoing  commitment to train and develop the next generation of mental health professionals for  greater Minnesota and other rural areas.” 

Blue Cross has given financial support to the University a couple of times before. This includes pledging $500,000 in 2021 to Minnesota State Mankato to establish a presidential scholarship program and provide annual support for the University’s Health and  Biomedical Sciences Summit and Undergraduate Research, as well as $600,000 in 2023 to establish the operational structure and advance the growth of the Blue Cross and Blue  Shield of Minnesota Center for Rural Behavioral Health at the University.  

The clinic, which is expected to be open by the end of the year, will be located at 1600  Warren St. (Suite 6) in Mankato.

Write to ben.livingston@mnsu.edu