The Legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee advanced a measure that would improve access to mental health services for children.

Nebraska lawmakers moved the bill out of committee Thursday.

The bill’s introducer, Sen. Amanda McGill of Lincoln, says lawmakers should debate the bill in the coming weeks.

The bill says doctors should provide optional mental health screenings to children during physicals. The proposal would launch a pilot program with the University of Nebraska Medical Center that would place behavioral health experts in three primary health care facilities around the state.

The measure also would make it easier for behavioral health experts to diagnose and treat patients with behavioral health problems through video chatting. The service would be for patients without a specialist nearby.