Provisional behavioral health licenses to full licenses: Analysis of Nebraska behavioral workforce data 2009–2019.

Abstract

There is a need to recruit and to retain behavioral health providers especially when providers are moving from the provisional licensing status to a full licensure status. This study estimated the rates of conversion of provisional licenses to full licenses among provisionally licensed psychologists, mental health practitioners, master social workers, and alcohol and drug counselors (ADCs) in Nebraska and examined potential associations among demographic characteristics and license conversion rates. Nebraska's behavioral health licensure data (2009)(2010)(2011)(2012)(2013)(2014)(2015)(2016)(2017)(2018)(2019) was obtained from the Health Professional Tracking Service (HPTS) program that was established as a joint effort between Nebraska