From UW Press Release 7-11-201
Sarah Anne Kooienga
PhD, FNP, ARNP
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Sarah Kooienga, an assistant professor of nursing in the University of Wyoming’s Fay
W. Whitney School of Nursing, has received a nearly $1 million, two-year grant from
the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Health Resources and Services Administration
(HRSA) Agency.
The $998,332 grant will be used to develop an integrated behavioral health primary
care initiative at the Family Medicine Residency Program at Cheyenne. The award is
part of HRSA’s Nurse Education Practice Quality and Retention Collaborative Practice-Behavioral
Health Integration initiative.
Through a collaborative effort among Kooienga, Julian Good, a psych mental health
nurse practitioner with Peak Wellness Center in Cheyenne; and the UW Family Nursing
Practice-Family Medicine Residency Program at Cheyenne, the Behavioral Health Integration
project will provide needed primary care clinical experiences for Bachelor of Science
in Nursing (BSN) students and other health care professional students. Wyoming has
a significant shortage of behavioral health providers.
By providing an innovative model -- which integrates behavioral health services into
primary care -- this model can be replicated across the state and potentially strengthen
primary care and behavioral health care for all Wyoming residents.
The HRSA grant will fund the hiring of a registered nurse (RN) case manager/coordinator
to strengthen primary care and behavioral health integration. Having additional behavioral
health providers onsite and greater coordination of services to outside providers
will address the unmet behavioral health needs of patients currently receiving services
through the Family Medicine Residency.
At a time when rising health care costs create a substantial barrier to accessing
care, the Behavioral Health Integration project will work collaboratively within the
community of Cheyenne to identify patients requiring a higher level of care coordination
and ensure they are able to access services at an affordable cost.
Kooienga, the grant’s primary investigator, believes the new RN position created through
this grant will serve as a model for stronger RN roles in primary care.
“Having an RN care coordinator can increase services, provide greater continuity of
care, decrease costs, and improve overall patient and families’ quality of life,”
she says.
For more information about this grant, email Kooienga at skooieng@uwyo.edu.
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Posted 7/11/2017
