By Shelby Mullis
TheStatehouseFile.com
INDIANAPOLIS — Gov. Mike Pence unveiled the plans and details for a new state-of-the-art neuro-diagnostic institute going up in the state’s capital.
The establishment is scheduled to open in 2018 and will provide Hoosiers with considerable advancements to the state’s public mental health delivery system.
“This institute will serve as the centerpiece of our ongoing commitment to improve mental health care and address the scourge of addictions in in Indiana,” Pence said in a Wednesday press release. “This new institute is another part of our strong commitment to improving health care in Indiana and to caring for our most vulnerable fellow citizens.”
Located on the campus on Community East Hospital in Indianapolis, the foundation will partner with Community Health Network. It is projected to serve 1,500 patients each year.
“As the largest provider of mental health services in Indiana, we know firsthand the desperate need that exists for these services,” said Bryan Mills, president and CEO of Community Health Network, in the press release. “We are committed to training providers through our psychiatric residency program and we are honored to work with the state to provide cutting-edge services through the Indiana Neuro-Diagnostic Institute.”
Dr. John Wenert, Secretary of the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration (FSSA), added that the focus of the new institute is on precise diagnosis and assertive treatment of brain-based disorders.
By locating the institute near a hospital and clinical partner, it will “leverage the emergency services, specialty medical care and neuro-diagnostic techniques of the clinical partner, and provide needed integrated medical services currently unavailable to patients throughout the state system,” according to the press release.
Construction on the new building is scheduled to begin in April 2016. It will replace Larue Carter Hospital in Indianapolis, one of six Indiana neuro-diagnostic facilities.
Shelby Mullis is a reporter for TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students.
