The NOW Coalition for Bipolar Disorder Educational Initiative Partners

University of Nebraska Medical Center, Center for Continuing Education (UNMC-CCE)

As Nebraska's only public academic health sciences center, UNMC-CCE is committed to the education of a 21st century health care work force, to finding cures and treatments for devastating diseases, to providing the best care for patients, and to serving the state and its communities through award-winning outreach. UNMC also is committed to embracing the richness of diversity, and is a major economic engine for the state of Nebraska.

The University of Cincinnati

The University of Cincinnati (UC) is a top public research university and the region's largest employer. Since its founding in 1819, UC has been the source of many discoveries creating positive change for society. The University of Cincinnati is one of the leading academic health centers in the nation. Because of its excellence in education, patient care, and research, students, researchers, physicians and patients travel from all over the world to take advantage of the many unique opportunities. The College is committed to providing a curriculum which offers diverse learning opportunities. Students develop a broad range of knowledge, skills and attitudes necessary to practice medicine. The University of Cincinnati and the Ohio Department of Mental Health have come together to address their regional needs and have utilized their Medicaid databases to help identify specific needs in bipolar disorder and focus their interventional efforts.

University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health

The University of Wisconsin-Madison is considered to be one of the world's premier public research universities and the School of Medicine and Public Health is well known for its numerous excellent clinical programs and academic departments. The University of Wisconsin is also home to one of the largest academic CME unit in the country. With over 30 employees, the University of Wisconsin Office of Continuing Professional Development in Medicine and Public Health (UW-OCPD) has established itself as an innovative unit that embraces continuous quality improvement and a scholarly approach to its educational offerings. Indeed, UW-OCPD initiatives incorporate innovative educational formats, program development, adult education, organizational and systems thinking, and interventions that facilitate change in clinical practice and behavior. The unit is a pioneer in the development and implementation of performance improvement initiatives that go well beyond the traditional approach to CME.

Wisconsin Medical Society

The Wisconsin Medical Society (Society) is the largest association of medical doctors in the state with more than 12,000 members dedicated to the best interests of their patients. The Society has been a trusted source for health policy leadership since 1841. The staff of approximately 65 professionals lead the Society's mission of improving the health of the people of Wisconsin by supporting and strengthening physicians' ability to practice high-quality patient care in a changing environment. The Wisconsin Medical Society is committed to working on initiatives that reduce variation or improve quality of care provided by physicians to the patients they serve. The Wisconsin Medical Society (WMS), a founding member of the Wisconsin Health Information Organization (WHIO), has access to an administrative data set that covers just under three million lives within Wisconsin. After recently analyzing this data, WMS identified four key areas of resource utilization variations, one of which was behavioral health. Within behavioral health, they have specifically identified bipolar disorder as a main area of focus, to improve patient care and to help identify and reduce practice variability.

The France Foundation

Since its inception in 1999, The France Foundation has been on the forefront of the planning, development, and implementation of multidisciplinary accredited education. It specializes in curriculum-based education aimed at providing learners with the opportunity to improve their performance as health care providers through a series of educational interactions in a variety of formats.

The Behavioral Health Education Center of Nebraska

The Behavioral Health Education Center of Nebraska (BHECN), which is administered at the Department of Psychiatry by the University of Nebraska Medical Center was formed in July of 2009. BHECN is developing a workable, efficient plan and infrastructure to address the critical shortage of trained behavioral health providers throughout Nebraska, particularly in rural and other underserved areas. It is dedicated to improving the structure of community-based mental health care, improving the competency of behavioral health clinicians, providing education and training in evidenced-based practice, and developing inter-professional collaboration. BHECN's access to administrative databases has allowed them the ability to identify specific areas of unmet need in bipolar disorder and to benchmark best practices for clinicians in the state of Nebraska.

CECity.com, Inc

CECity, the leading provider of online CME, QI, and Outcomes platforms and services, is committed to the development of technologies designed to support health care professionals in their pursuit of lifetime learning and CME/CE stakeholders in their quest for quality and outcomes.

CE Outcomes, LLC

CE Outcomes, LLC is a full service assessment company dedicated to providing high quality, objective measurement for a variety of organizations in the health care industry. We provide assessments that produce meaningful data based on valid, scientific methodologies with the overall goal of improving patient health outcomes.

The National Institute for Quality Improvement and Education

The National Institute for Quality Improvement and Education (NIQIE) is a not-for-profit (501c3) organization dedicated to the integration of quality improvement and continuing education for healthcare professionals. The Institute creates educational and research interventions to support the convergence of Quality Improvement and CME. Scope of work includes educational programs for Quality Management and CME professionals; development of performance improvement strategies for medical education; and researching effectiveness of educational interventions in improving physician performance and ultimately patient care.