{"data":{"id":"us-ne/neb.-rev.-stat.-71-5681","jurisdiction":"us-ne","citation":"Neb. Rev. Stat. § 71-5681","heading":"Neb. Rev. Stat. § 71-5681","body":"The Legislature hereby finds and declares that:\n\n(1) Eighty-eight of Nebraska's ninety-three counties are classified as mental and behavioral health profession shortage areas by the federal Health Resources and Services Administration and the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services;\n\n(2) The Department of Health and Human Services reports that seventy-four percent of the state's psychiatrists, psychologists, and licensed mental health practitioners live and practice in the urban areas of Omaha and Lincoln, which leaves the remaining seventy-two thousand square miles of Nebraska to be covered by approximately one-fourth of the professionals licensed to practice behavioral health in Nebraska;\n\n(3) Thirty-eight Nebraska counties have one or no licensed behavioral health professional; and\n\n(4) Reductions in federal funding will result in the elimination of over five thousand five hundred behavioral health patient visits in rural Nebraska.","path":["NE Code","Chapter 71"],"source_url":"https://nebraskalegislature.gov/laws/statutes.php?statute=71-5681","current_through":"2026-08-14","vintage":"open-us-law v2026.08, retrieved 2026-09-14","retrieved_at":"2026-09-14T18:32:21Z","sha256":"c287d068b3edc06ea336f1cb9def78457a2a47e9822cdde15b69c03f7c3333c4","source_id":"us-ne","stale":false,"prev":"us-ne/neb.-rev.-stat.-71-5680","next":"us-ne/neb.-rev.-stat.-71-5682"},"notice":"GroundRules: Original legal text. Not legal advice."}